Thread: Smuggling Operation to North Carolina Led to Death of 7

http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/1138186/

By SEAN MURPHY

Posted: Today at 1:11 p.m.

OKLAHOMA CITY — The passengers in a minivan that crashed on a slick Oklahoma interstate during a winter storm, killing seven, were illegal immigrants being smuggled to North Carolina, a federal immigration officer confirmed Tuesday.

"This was a smuggling vehicle," said Carl Rusnok, a spokesman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Dallas office. "These people were being smuggled and transported illegally.

"The question now is whether there is a larger smuggling operation behind this particular vehicle."

Seven people died Sunday when the 1998 Chevrolet Astro van hit a patch of ice along Interstate 40, slid across the center median and slammed into an oncoming tractor-trailer. The crash happened about 3:50 a.m., when there was limited visibility and freezing rain in the area.

The van was heading from Nogales, Arizona, to North Carolina, along what Rusnok described as a common smuggling route. The driver was among those killed in the crash, Rusnok said.

In addition to the poor driving conditions, Rusnok said smuggling vehicles often are not well maintained and that drivers may not be used to driving in adverse conditions.

"The drivers there may have been driving for a number of hours with little rest, and then they encounter road conditions and weather they are not used," Rusnok said.

"On top of that, these alien smugglers do not treat their cargo well at all. These people pay sometimes thousands of dollars to be smuggled and transported, and for their money, they're treated to inhumane conditions."

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol has not released the names of those killed in the crash, pending notification of relatives.

The five injured who were taken to the Great Plains Regional Medical Center in Elk City include Gaudencio P. Perez, 17; Sergio Yanez-Martinez, age unknown; Mitxi Vasquez, 21; and Pedro Valdez, 56, all of Mexico; and Eurgencio V. Gonzalez, 20, of Durham, North Carolina, the patrol reported.

Although Gonzalez gave authorities a North Carolina address, Rusnok said he did not know if Gonzalez was a U.S. citizen. The OHP previously reported that all of those in the van were Mexican residents.

Valdez was released Sunday and taken into custody by federal authorities, Rusnok said. He remained in the Beckham County jail on Tuesday.

Yanez-Martinez and Vasquez both were released from the hospital on Monday, but Rusnok said he did not know if they were in federal custody. There was no record of the two being held Tuesday at the Beckham County jail.

Perez and Gonzalez both were listed in "stable" condition on Tuesday, hospital spokesman Stephen Rymer said.

Rusnok said he expects the injured passengers will be taken into federal custody once they are released.

"They'll be processed for return to their country of origin," he said.

State investigators have had a difficult time identifying the victims, and it could be weeks before their relatives are notified of their deaths, said OHP Lt. Pete Norwood.

"A lot of the people who were killed didn't have any documentation, and the people who were riding with them didn't know them very well," Norwood said.

Norwood said the OHP investigation is continuing into exactly what caused the accident, but said state investigators won't focus on the immigration status of the victims.

"We didn't care if they were illegal or not - they were hurt and we wanted to make sure they got treated," Norwood said.

More here:
http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... ic&t=51292

If there so poor and have no work in Mexico where do they get thousands
of dollars to pay for the ride? Do US employers front the $$$$? if so thats
a RICO offense.