PENITAS, Texas, March 28, 2008
Alleged Immigrant Smuggle Try Turns Deadly
Crash At Texas-Mexico Border Kills 3; Pickup Truck Contained At Least 20 People
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Photo
Illegal immigrants wait to be transported by U.S. Border Patrol officers at the scene of a triple fatality car accident near the Texas-Mexico border on U.S. Highway 83 in Penitas, Texas, Thursday morning, March 27, 2008. As many as 25 passengers were in the bed of a Ford pickup when it collided with a Ford Expedition, killing three and injuring as many as nine, officials said. (AP Photo/The Monitor, Alex Jones)
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The wreck occurred before dawn on U.S. Highway 83, the main east-west artery along the border in the Rio Grande Valley, about 15 miles west of McAllen.
"There were bodies all over the place," said Penitas interim Police Chief David Harris.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Nina Pruneda said three illegal immigrants were in custody. Pruneda said 14 others were being treated for a variety of head and back injuries in five area hospitals and one was believed to be paralyzed.
Agents hope to interview the injured once they recover, Pruneda told the Brownsville Herald.
"There's a certain time element to our investigation," she told the newspaper. "But obviously we can't just storm the hospital."
They are still trying to determine if the driver is one of those injured or if he escaped, Pruneda said.
Blood stained the grass at the corner of U.S. Highway 83 and Espanola Drive in front of L&I Funeral Home. The gold Ford pickup came to rest with its tailgate smashed against a telephone pole just feet from the funeral home's display headstones. The truck's rear passenger-side panel appeared to be the point of impact.
The Ford Expedition it crashed into had a crushed front end. Information was not immediately available on the condition of its driver. Department of Public Safety troopers were investigating the cause of the accident.
Some of the survivors told police they had been hurried into the back of the truck and had not been riding long before the accident.
"I think they had paid a fee" to be smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border, Harris said.
La Joya police spokesman Joe Cantu said the area was a major immigrant-smuggling corridor.
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Mexican Consulate
Lately there had been an influx of immigrants from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, but most of those involved in Wednesday's accident are believed to be Mexican, Cantu said.The driver is gone, as usual.
Miriam MedelMexican Consulate
"They're just coming over in waves," Cantu said. The smugglers have little regard for the safety of their passengers. Accidents where immigrants are tossed from the open beds of pickups are not unusual, Cantu said.
Looking at the smashed pick-up with an extended bed, Cantu estimated there could have been as many as 30 in it.
"They get in - it's like sardines," Cantu said. The smugglers often escape when the groups are nabbed, Cantu said. They are usually young, fit men.
"These guys run like gazelles," he said.
But the person who likely could offer the most in the way of explanation apparently got away, Miriam Medel, a spokeswoman for the Mexican Consulate in McAllen told the Herald.
"It takes us back to how coyotes really don't care about anybody but themselves," she said. "The driver is gone, as usual."
"These guys run like gazelles," he said.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Fun-Employment
are you and advocate for Murder?
youre correct sir, the invasion started centuries ago with the Pilgrims......
There were Laws, your kind just loves to come in
take over and say you got here first.....
BIGOT!!!!!
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Posted by IKnowBest
####################
SINCE YOU PUT IT THAT WAY,,, THE DEMOCRATS DEFINITELY HAVE MY VOTE!
Let Mexico, Dump all of the U.S. War Debt it has purchased
and buy Euros instead of Dollars......
There were Laws, your kind just loves to come in
take over and say you got here first.....
BIGOT!!!!!
Posted by Quetzal0666
What laws were on the books in America at that time? Which of these laws were broken by the Pilgrims?
Who was in charge of enforcing these laws?
Why did they not do their job of enforcing their laws?
What happened at that time has no bearing on these ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADERS. The current laws are the ones that need enforcement and it is up to OUR people to enforce them.
AZTLAN....
your little Opinion wont change a thing, neither will your vote in this years election,
simply put, just welcome 12 million new voters at some point in time, along with their voting Children
its innevitable
deal with it.
and for your information AZTLAN or SW U.S. as you call it was purchased over the barrel of a gun,
If you recall it was always manifest destiny,
the whole war was planned out in washington with the aim of a country from east to west.
to imply it was purchased peacefully is by default
faulty data.
Dont blame the Immigrant, blame your own governments
interventions in democracies, coups and such,
it has kept the region impoverished for decades,
as a result of U.S. Meddling.
faulty data. Posted by Quetzal0666
I never implied it was purchased peacefully. What I said is WE PURCHASED THE LAND AFTER OUR LITTLE FIGHT. Now, maybe fights are peaceful in your little head but NORMAL people know they are not. And, if Mexico wants to take it back they can try. Just don''t expect it to be a PEACEFUL war.
different concept all together,
get used to it,
learn spanish soon, youll need it more and more this century....
ciao
ciao is also used in Most Latin American Countries
for Goodbye,
but im sure you wouldnt know that since your ignorance says it all, but we wont discuss that for now.
Still Learning spanish will do you some good,
Itll make it easier to order breakfast, or lunch,
Besides, the Spanish Speaking U.S. President is probably being conceived in Mexico as we speak, only the Mother has not arrived yet to deposit the little citizen...LOL...
LOL......
get used to it,
its a fact of life same as air and water....
two guns son of one gun
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by bhappy2-2
March 31, 2008 9:06 AM PDT
- bhappy2-2..is an alcoholic indian from arizona...and that''''s a fact!!
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Reply to this comment
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See all 29 CommentsPosted by underdogus
So why don''t you get your sorry dogpoopus @ss on the next flight to Arizona and kick my alcoholic Indian butt? You suck@ss phalanx, you wouldn''t know a fact if it slapped you upside of your idiotic dogasssucking face. I will be waiting at the airport (thats where they park the plane, even you can''t miss it) to see if you have your "facts" right. Bring some of your ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADER PARASITES with you. You will need their help to handle this alcoholic Indian.