At least six illegal immigrants from Honduras and Guatemala have been killed, multiple others injured, and two arrested following a high-speed chase that ended with a crash in the rural town of Edna just northwest of Victoria, Texas. At least 15 people were crammed into the SUV.
The fatal wreck took place shortly after 1:30 a.m. along Highway 59 when police in Edna tried to pull over a Ford Explorer over a traffic violation, Houston’s ABC13 reported. Edna is located in Jackson County.
The driver of the SUV led police through a series of turns in and out of the main highway but eventually overcorrected in one of those turns causing the vehicle to roll over multiple times.
Four suspected illegal immigrants were ejected from the vehicle and died from their injuries. Two others ran away but have since been arrested. Two other passengers died while the rest are being treated for their injuries.
According to ABC13, authorities believe the crash is a failed human smuggling attempt. They also reported that the middle seat in the SUV had been removed and the rear seat had been folded down in order to fit more people. Preliminary information points to the crash victims as having been from Honduras and Guatemala.
KHOU CBS11 in Houston reported that two people who fled the scene were later taken into custody.
The New York Times reported on the crash; however, they failed to mention the human smuggling connection thus making it difficult for their readers to understand the reasons for the chase and the crash.
Jackson County Sheriff A.J. Louderback said the incident “highlights our President’s complete disregard for the rule of law,” in response to an inquiry from Breitbart Texas’ Lana Shadwick.
“The worst part,” the sheriff continued, “is that most Texans and most Americans don’t know about the complete disembowelment of our nation’s immigration system.”
Louderback has been quite outspoken about the Obama Administration’s cutback on the deportation of criminal illegal aliens and the new Priority Enforcement Program he believes is handcuffing American sheriff’s and keeping them from their duty of keeping their communities safe.
Breitbart Texas has reported in the past on similar cases near the Texas border where human smugglers pack SUV’s and vans with illegal immigrants and try to circumvent U.S. Border Patrol checkpoints.
The tactic often times results in high speed chases and fatalities as inexperienced drivers have a difficult time controlling the grossly overloaded vehicles.
In 2012, Junior Benjamin Rodriguez, who was only 15 at the time, drove a minivan with at least 16 illegal immigrants when border patrol agents tried to pull him over in the border city of Palmview, Texas. Rodriguez sped off but lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a shopping plaza. The passengers ended up flying out of the vehicle with 9 of them dying.
Rodriguez was tried as an adult and is currently serving a 20 year prison sentence for nine counts of manslaughter.
This article has been updated with additional information.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award winning journalist with Breitbart Texas you can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.
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