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
-
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)
-
Photo Essay Border Insecurity The slow, sensitive path to tighter security along America's borders.
-
Interactive Devious Paths See key routes for smuggling migrants, forced laborers and terrorists around the world.
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.
Quote
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.
More From U.S.
Add a Comment See all 29 Comments
- bhappy2-2..is an alcoholic indian from arizona...and that''''s a fact!!
Posted 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. - Reply to this comment
- I just wanna know why all the illegal immigrants want to come here in the first place? Half of the jobs I have ever had have been outsourced and sent to mexico-so why come here?
- Reply to this comment
- Anyone that want to can come to america, BUT send them straight to boot camp Posted by twogunsono1g. humm I agree......sir/mam ...
- Reply to this comment
- Anyone that want to can come to america, BUT send them stright to boot camp, where they learn english,american history and every thing else it takes to be american. Then they serve six years in the military, that gives them the right to be and stay in america.
two guns son of one gun - Reply to this comment
- libsrweak..and you''re a nazi..........
- Reply to this comment
- bhappy2-2..is an alcoholic indian from arizona...and that''s a fact!!
- Reply to this comment
- It is the government fail to protect the Americans. NONE of the candidates say one thing against this terrible issue. They all want the hispanish votes, either legal or illegal!
- Reply to this comment
- bhappy2-2 ...
LOL......
get used to it,
its a fact of life same as air and water.... - Reply to this comment
- bhappy2-2...
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... - Reply to this comment
- Mexico is not taking it back, Mexicans are,
different concept all together,
get used to it,
learn spanish soon, youll need it more and more this century....
ciao - Reply to this comment
- to imply it was purchased peacefully is by default
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. - Reply to this comment
- bhappy2-2...
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. - Reply to this comment
- bhappy2-2......
AZTLAN.... - Reply to this comment
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.- Reply to this comment
- Want to see the U.S. Economy Collapse sooner?
Let Mexico, Dump all of the U.S. War Debt it has purchased
and buy Euros instead of Dollars...... - Reply to this comment
- Want so see more immigrants die like this? Vote Democrat.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by IKnowBest
####################
SINCE YOU PUT IT THAT WAY,,, THE DEMOCRATS DEFINITELY HAVE MY VOTE! - Reply to this comment
- bhappy2-2...
There were Laws, your kind just loves to come in
take over and say you got here first.....
BIGOT!!!!! - Reply to this comment
- Mexico is very harsh with illegal immigrants from Honduras or El Salvador or Guatemala. They know they need to get to the U S illegally as quickly as possible, or else Mexico will arrest them. Hence, the urgency of getting into the U S. I''m so tired of welcoming illegals with open arms and lots of legal rights. But seriously, all they have to do is wade across the Rio Grande. It is shallow, and no state or local enforcement officer can arrest them. Only ICE agents, which are never around. They certainly don''t need to ride in a truck.
- Reply to this comment
- The government does not want to stop illegals from entering the country, if they did the border would be completely covered with our military 24 7''s. They spend all of our tax dollars on other countries and are unable or unwilling to provide the American tax payers with security from these people. We do not need these people to do our work, we have plenty of unemployed able-bodied persons that should be required to work in order to receive any welfare. If these "emloyers" paid a working mans wage with some benefits they would not have trouble finding workers. Most illegals spend very little in our country, they all hog together in one house, send their money back home, bring crime and drugs with them, cost us millions of dollars in medical and schools.
- Reply to this comment
- Well they are planning another rally in May wouldnt that be the right time to bring in ICE and some BIG busses and start hauling these people to the border and chucking them back out? Seems to me if they are all together that would be a great time to do a mass pick up.
- Reply to this comment
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
