AZ Woman and Kids Hit Head-On by Illegal Immigrant States Her Fury

A woman driving her four-year-old son and one-year-daughter who was hit head-on by an illegal immigrant high on drugs on July 4 expressed her fury at a system permitting such a man to stay in the United States.

Tricia Bracho, from Maricopa, Arizona, told ABC15, “I’m super angry. And the fact that he has been here six times, and has left the country and come back, and has committed felonies in the process, and is able to do so up until this point, it outrages me. I mean my kids, we could have been killed.”

On July 4, Bracho had left her home with her children and had driven three miles when Manuel Perez-Vasquez, who has been deported six times since May 2012 and admitted to being high on marijuana, according to Pinal County deputies, smashed head-on into Bracho’s car. She recalled, “I was driving and the truck coming towards me started swerving. Not just a little bit. He was all over the road. So I veered over to the right to get out of his way, thinking maybe he was joking. And he just hit right into us.”

The impact of the crash sent Bracho’s car careening over three times; her daughter was uninjured but Bracho and her son were flown to the hospital. She told ABC15, “My son got the worst of it; he had to get three staples on the top of his head.”

Bracho, a single mother, worries about the hospital costs. She said, “My son and I were both flown to the hospital, so I can only imagine what that’s going to be.” Her friends have created a GoFundMe account.

Bracho said she has become anxious when she drives, acknowledging, “It was a day I’ll never forget. It was the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced in my life.”

Perez-Vasquez has been charged with felony DUI and leaving the scene of an injury collision. Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu told ABC15 that he will prosecute Vasquez before he releases him to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.

Bracho’s incident occurred only three days after the July 1 murder of Kathryn Steinle in San Francisco by Francisco Sanchez, who had repeatedly been deported.