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9 Die While Fleeing Ariz. Border Patrol
A sport utility vehicle crammed with suspected illegal immigrants rolled over Monday in an attempt to outrun Border Patrol agents, killing nine Mexican citizens and injuring 12 others, officials said.
Five of the injured, including a pregnant woman, were in critical condition, most with head trauma, hospital officials said.
The Chevy Suburban was carrying 21 people when the driver had tried to circumvent a checkpoint on the highway, Border Patrol spokesman Lloyd Frers said.
With Border Patrol agents in pursuit, the driver attempted to make a U-turn and rolled over, Frers said. He did not know how fast either vehicle was traveling.
"It's pretty obvious to anybody who looks at it that it was more than likely a smuggling load ... and they were more than likely from Mexico," Frers said.
Sheriff's Maj. Leon Wilmot said the car had swerved to avoid a spike strip put out by Border Patrol agents. Border Patrol spokeswoman Agent Veronica Lozano said she didn't know whether agents put out the device.
The nine victims, including six women, were Mexicans who tried to enter the United States illegally, Mexico's Foreign Relations Department said.
Video posted on Web site of The Sun newspaper of Yuma showed the white SUV, its top crumpled, sitting upright as teams of emergency workers treated the injured and carried them to ambulances and helicopters.
Scores of illegal immigrants die each year while crossing the Mexican border into Arizona, many in car crashes. Smugglers often flee from authorities at high speeds or overload vehicles, which makes them difficult to control.
"They just pile in; they're like sardines," Frers said. "It's unfortunate."
Agents are generally required to follow a "non-pursuit" policy, meaning they must follow a suspect vehicle at a distance unless the driver commits a traffic violation, said T.J. Bonner, who heads a union representing Border Patrol agents. After a traffic violation, a supervisor can authorize pursuit.
"Now that you have so many more people making that journey through those godforsaken areas, it's only natural that you're going to have more fatalities," Bonner said.
Two of the injured were admitted to Yuma Regional Medical Center in serious condition, spokeswoman Machele Headington said. Four others were treated and released to the custody of Border Patrol, she said.
The five critically injured victims were transferred to a Phoenix hospital, along with a sixth who was in good condition, officials said. Frers said the person believed to be the driver was among those taken to Phoenix.
The Yuma County Sheriff's Office was investigating the crash, while Immigration and Customs Enforcement was investigating immigration-related aspects.
The Rev. Robin Hoover, founder of an Arizona group that maintains dozens of desert water stations for border-crossers, said the Border Patrol's enforcement strategy has forced migrants to cross in more desolate and dangerous area, and also go to greater lengths to avoid apprehension.
Until Congress enacts meaningful immigration reform that allows would-be workers to cross legally, Hoover said, "we're going to see more deaths. Period."
Nationwide, at least 291 illegal immigrants have died during border crossing attempts from Oct. 1 through Sunday, Border Patrol spokesman Gustavo Soto said. That includes 75 deaths due to heat exposure, 45 drownings, and 42 motor vehicle incidents.
Additionally, the skeletal remans of another 63 people have been found along the nation's borders, Soto said.
In the Yuma sector, which spans 118 miles of land in Arizona and California, 20 illegal immigrants had died through Sunday and another six skeletal remains had been found, Soto said.
The Yuma area, a sandy stretch of desert in southwestern Arizona, has become the nation's busiest immigrant-smuggling hotspot. President Bush visited the area in May as part of his push for a sweeping overhaul of immigration laws.
After a crackdown on illegal border crossing, the Border Patrol's Yuma Sector reported a 48 percent drop in migrant arrests from 11,522 in June 2005 to 6,030 in June this year.
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Associated Press writers Amanda Myers, Pauline Arrillaga and Paul Davenport in Phoenix contributed to this report.
I suppose some border patrol agents will be fired for this. Why it just couldn't be the illegals fault now could it.
Our government will send all the families millions of dollars in restitution!!AAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!! And of course there'll be no charge for the hospital bills! Unless we pay it out of taxes!
A sport utility vehicle crammed with suspected illegal immigrants rolled over Monday in an attempt to outrun Border Patrol agents, killing nine Mexican citizens and injuring 12 others, officials said.
Five of the injured, including a pregnant woman, were in critical condition, most with head trauma, hospital officials said.
The Chevy Suburban was carrying 21 people when the driver had tried to circumvent a checkpoint on the highway, Border Patrol spokesman Lloyd Frers said.
With Border Patrol agents in pursuit, the driver attempted to make a U-turn and rolled over, Frers said. He did not know how fast either vehicle was traveling.
"It's pretty obvious to anybody who looks at it that it was more than likely a smuggling load ... and they were more than likely from Mexico," Frers said.
Sheriff's Maj. Leon Wilmot said the car had swerved to avoid a spike strip put out by Border Patrol agents. Border Patrol spokeswoman Agent Veronica Lozano said she didn't know whether agents put out the device.
The nine victims, including six women, were Mexicans who tried to enter the United States illegally, Mexico's Foreign Relations Department said.
Video posted on Web site of The Sun newspaper of Yuma showed the white SUV, its top crumpled, sitting upright as teams of emergency workers treated the injured and carried them to ambulances and helicopters.
Scores of illegal immigrants die each year while crossing the Mexican border into Arizona, many in car crashes. Smugglers often flee from authorities at high speeds or overload vehicles, which makes them difficult to control.
"They just pile in; they're like sardines," Frers said. "It's unfortunate."
Agents are generally required to follow a "non-pursuit" policy, meaning they must follow a suspect vehicle at a distance unless the driver commits a traffic violation, said T.J. Bonner, who heads a union representing Border Patrol agents. After a traffic violation, a supervisor can authorize pursuit.
"Now that you have so many more people making that journey through those godforsaken areas, it's only natural that you're going to have more fatalities," Bonner said.
Two of the injured were admitted to Yuma Regional Medical Center in serious condition, spokeswoman Machele Headington said. Four others were treated and released to the custody of Border Patrol, she said.
The five critically injured victims were transferred to a Phoenix hospital, along with a sixth who was in good condition, officials said. Frers said the person believed to be the driver was among those taken to Phoenix.
The Yuma County Sheriff's Office was investigating the crash, while Immigration and Customs Enforcement was investigating immigration-related aspects.
The Rev. Robin Hoover, founder of an Arizona group that maintains dozens of desert water stations for border-crossers, said the Border Patrol's enforcement strategy has forced migrants to cross in more desolate and dangerous area, and also go to greater lengths to avoid apprehension.
Until Congress enacts meaningful immigration reform that allows would-be workers to cross legally, Hoover said, "we're going to see more deaths. Period."
Nationwide, at least 291 illegal immigrants have died during border crossing attempts from Oct. 1 through Sunday, Border Patrol spokesman Gustavo Soto said. That includes 75 deaths due to heat exposure, 45 drownings, and 42 motor vehicle incidents.
Additionally, the skeletal remans of another 63 people have been found along the nation's borders, Soto said.
In the Yuma sector, which spans 118 miles of land in Arizona and California, 20 illegal immigrants had died through Sunday and another six skeletal remains had been found, Soto said.
The Yuma area, a sandy stretch of desert in southwestern Arizona, has become the nation's busiest immigrant-smuggling hotspot. President Bush visited the area in May as part of his push for a sweeping overhaul of immigration laws.
After a crackdown on illegal border crossing, the Border Patrol's Yuma Sector reported a 48 percent drop in migrant arrests from 11,522 in June 2005 to 6,030 in June this year.
__
Associated Press writers Amanda Myers, Pauline Arrillaga and Paul Davenport in Phoenix contributed to this report.
I suppose some border patrol agents will be fired for this. Why it just couldn't be the illegals fault now could it.
Our government will send all the families millions of dollars in restitution!!AAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!
And of course there'll be no charge for the hospital bills! Unless we pay it out of taxes!
