Thread: Troopers Investigate 6 Crashes With Immigrants

http://cbs4denver.com/crime/local_story_080114045.html

Mar 21, 2006 9:38 am US/Mountain

Troopers Investigate 6 Crashes With Immigrants

(CBS4) BRUSH, Colo. State troopers were investigating 4 separate accidents that all likely involved illegal immigrants from Mexico traveling on the Eastern Plains Tuesday morning. With 2 other similar crashes on Monday, there were a total of 6 accidents involving illegal immigrants during a 24 hour period in Colorado.

Investigators said all of the cases on Tuesday involved vans or SUVs that rolled over on icy roads.

The first accident on Tuesday happened at 6:35 a.m. at the intersection of U.S. 6 and Interstate 76 near Brush. Troopers reported that a Ford Econoline van with 16 people went out of control and rolled over. No one was hurt and all 16 people were taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

The second accident Tuesday happened on Interstate 70 near Seibert near mile marker 405 at about 7:10 a.m. Troopers said a Chevy Suburban rolled over with 10 people inside. No one was hurt and ICE agents were heading to the scene.

The third crash Tuesday was at about 8 a.m. back on I-76 near Brush. The state patrol said a Chevy Suburban rolled over with 4 people on board, some of whom suffered minor injuries. No one was taken to the hospital and ICE agents were reportedly responding.

The fourth accident Tuesday was at about 8:20 a.m., also on I-76 near Brush. None of the 12 people in a GMC van were hurt when the vehicle rolled over. ICE agents were again on their way.

The state patrol also reported a similar crash Monday night in which more than 2 dozen suspected illegal immigrants were taken into federal custody east of Brush. Troopers said a Ford van was headed east on I-76 about 5 p.m. Monday night when a semi driver tried to merge with other eastbound traffic.

The driver of the van lost control, spun around and hit the front of the truck before both vehicles went off the road. Authorities said 25 suspected immigrants fled the scene and ran to a McDonald's restaurant in Brush where they were captured.

There was a 6th similar crash near Byers on I-70 earlier on Monday. An SUV carrying 17 suspected illegal immigrants rolled over in that case.

The state patrol also said there were 2 cases Tuesday involving vans of suspected illegal immigrants that were stopped for traffic violations on the Western Slope along I-70. The vans were carrying a total of 31 people.

Troopers said the accidents were happening as illegal immigrants were entering the United States, mostly from Mexico, to find work with the growing season about to begin.

No one was hurt and all 16 people were taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

No one was hurt and ICE agents were heading to the scene.

No one was taken to the hospital and ICE agents were reportedly responding.

ICE agents were again on their way.

Job security boys!

Are there even two dozen people left in Mexico now?

This makes me so sick, I need my barf bucket again. This stuff continuously jepordises yours and my safety on the road.

I sent this article on to Raul Grijalva (Congressman) since I'm sure his office would ignore it otherwise. They probably still won't read it when they get it.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/81 ... etail.html

70 Suspected Illegal Immigrants Caught In Rash Of Car Wrecks
Dozens Of Mexican Nationals Taken Into Custody By ICE

POSTED: 9:43 am MST March 21, 2006
UPDATED: 11:11 pm MST March 21, 2006

The Colorado State Patrol is investigating four crashes and two traffic stops that involve 70 suspected illegal immigrants.

Three of the Tuesday morning crashes were near Brush, Colo., and one occurred in Siebert, Colo.

According to the CSP, at 6:35 a.m. a 1995 Ford Econoline with 16 people inside lost control and rolled on U.S. Highway 6 at the junction of Interstate 76 near Brush.

At 7:11 a.m. on Interstate 70, near Seibert, Colo., a Chevrolet Suburban with 10 occupants aboard rolled.

At 8:03 a.m. on I-76 near Brush, a 1999 Chevy Suburban rolled with four people inside.

A few minutes later -- in the same area -- a 1998 GMC van with 12 occupants rolled.

In all of the crashes, the occupants received only minor injuries or were not injured. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have taken everyone involved in custody.

Authorities are also investigating two other morning incidents on the Western Slope with more than 30 suspected illegal immigrants.

At 7:54 a.m. troopers stopped a 1995 Chevy Astro van for a traffic violation on eastbound I-70, near Glenwood Springs. Twenty suspected immigrants were inside the van. At 8:50 a.m. troopers pulled over a 1995 Chevy Astro van on eastbound I-70 near Wolcott, Colo. The vehicle had 11 suspected illegal immigrants.

All of the occupants inside the vehicles are Mexican nationals, the CSP said.

One Monday, 42 suspected illegal immigrants were taken into custody after two separate crashes on I-70 and Interstate 75.

One occurred when a van and a semi-trailer collided along I-76. The CSP said a Ford van was headed east on I-76 about 5 p.m. Monday, when the semi driver tried to merge with other eastbound traffic. The driver of the van lost control, spun around and hit the front of the truck before both vehicles went off the road. Authorities say 25 suspected immigrants fled the scene and ran to a McDonald's restaurant in Brush -- where they were captured.

Seventeen people were taken into custody after their Chevrolet Suburban crashed near Strasburg. Their vehicle flipped. One person was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

The state patrol said there is an increase in human trafficking this time of year. Troopers estimate they encounter more than 500 undocumented immigrants on a weekly basis on Colorado highways. State Sen. Peter Groff is sponsoring two bills that would make smuggling and trafficking a felony. Violators face five years in prison.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=1752059&page=1



Suspected Immigrant Smugglers in Colo. Car Wrecks
Two Days, Six Crashes and 80 Suspected Illegal Immigrants Taken Into Custody
By JONANN BRADY
March 21, 2006 — - In a matter of 24 hours, dozens of suspected illegal immigrants were involved in six separate car crashes on icy roads in Colorado, according to police. Immigration officials say the suspected immigrants were being smuggled from Mexico into the United States.

Two additional vehicles -- one carrying 20 suspected illegal immigrants, the other 11 -- were pulled over by authorities on Tuesday but were not involved in wrecks, said the Colorado State Patrol.

"This time of year, it's pretty common to have this type of traffic," said Carl Rusnok, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Troopers estimate they encounter more than 500 undocumented immigrants weekly on Colorado highways. At this time of year, many Mexicans enter the United States to look for work at the beginning of the growing season.

Rusnok said at least two of the vehicles embroiled in the accidents were headed for Chicago and Florida.

"This is something we investigate seriously and try to get to the smuggling organization responsible," Rusnok said.


Immigration a Hot-Button Issue in State
All told, 80 suspected illegals were taken into custody within a 24-hour period.

The Colorado State Patrol said two vans -- one carrying 16 suspected illegal immigrants, the other carrying 12 -- rolled early Tuesday morning near Brush, Colo., about 80 miles northeast of Denver.

Also early Tuesday morning, another Suburban carrying 10 people rolled over on Interstate 70, about 110 miles east of Denver,

No injuries were reported in those accidents.

Forty-two suspected illegal immigrants were taken into custody on Monday after two separate crashes on I-70 and I-75 in Colorado.

Several of the men involved in the crashes were "voluntarily returned" to Mexico, said Rusnok. Voluntary return is offered to illegal immigrants who don't have criminal records, he added. The drivers of the vehicles suspected of smuggling the men are being held in federal immigration court.

Immigration is a hot-button issue in the state, and several anti-immigration groups are active in there, including the Minutemen, Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform and Defend Colorado Now.

Colorado State Sen. Peter Groff is sponsoring two bills that would make smuggling and trafficking a felony. Violators would face five years in prison.

In Washington, U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., heads a caucus that has vowed to derail President Bush's guest-worker plan and any legislation that smacks of what he calls amnesty for illegal immigrants.

Is there any way to know what happens to them after ICE takes them into custody? Are they released on their own recognizance or actually processed through to deportation? This is SCARY stuff. We of course take all the precautions buying a safe car, good tires, insurance, maintenance, car seats, wearing seat belts, etc. but then these knuckleheads are out there driving like maniacs overloaded into poorly maintained, uninsured, probably not even properly registered vehicles. The safety of our citizens should be a priority! Get these people off our roads and out of our country before more innocent people are injured or worse!

http://www.rockymountainnews.com

Mexicans go to homeland after crashes
Others transported south following West Slope cases

By Joe Garner, Rocky Mountain News
March 24, 2006

Almost all the 82 illegal Mexican immigrants seized after a rash of accidents Monday and Tuesday on icy Colorado highways were flown home by Thursday afternoon, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.

Besides the illegal immigrants arrested after six crashes in northeastern Colorado, 31 more illegal immigrants were transported south after being detained Tuesday on Interstate 70 on the Western Slope.

Colorado State Patrol troopers found 11 in a 1995 Chevrolet Astro van sitting on the shoulder of the interstate near Glenwood Springs and the others in a similar-model van that officers pulled over near Wolcott.

Other than the drivers, who may face charges of human smuggling, and some others suspected of having criminal records, "All the aliens we arrested this week have been returned," Rusnok said.

The "vast majority" of returnees, he said, qualified for voluntary return, which includes transportation paid by U.S. taxpayers and carries no criminal penalties.

About half the detainees were flown Tuesday afternoon from Denver to the Mexican border near El Paso, Texas, on a flight operated by the Justice Prisoner Alien Transportation System, which amounts to the federal government's prisoner transportation airline.

Scott Rolstad, chief of operations for JPATS, said he would have to review agency records to determine if the other half had been transported Wednesday or Thursday.

Meantime, ICE agents removed 20 of those involved in the accidents who were being held at the Morgan County Jail in Fort Morgan.

But the agents replaced them Thursday with other illegal immigrants arrested in other cases, Sheriff Jim Crone said.

"I'm kind of hoping they would come and get them all," the sheriff said.

"We could use the space."

Similarly, immigration agents removed some of the illegal immigrants arrested along I-70 who had been housed at the Garfield County Jail in Glenwood Springs and brought in others Thursday, said Sgt. Kevin Erpestad, the detention sergeant.

"They take some and they give us others to hold for them," Erpestad said. "It happens all the time."

garnerj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5421