BORDER NEWS
A van wreck in Colorado last week killed six people and injured 13 others. They were being smuggled from Mexico to Chicago. Officials are investigating whether the smugglers involved are part of a larger network.
*********
Officials at a border checkpoint in Texas discovered 25 undocumented immigrants hiding in a refrigerated trailer this week, the fourth such discovery this month at the checkpoint.
*********
INS agents in Atlanta recently detained 99 suspected undocumented immigrants following raids of several restaurants and apartments complexes. The arrests followed a two-year long investigation.
*********
The Border Patrol this week announced a new campaign designed to discourage people from crossing the US border without authorization. The campaign features advertisements showing dead bodies of those that died while making the journey. The advertisements will be shown on Mexican television. The campaign is designed to discourage people, especially those in El Salvador, from trying to come to the US. Salvadoran officials estimate that more than 30,000 people have left since the two earthquakes earlier this year.
*********
INS officials in Houston have been trying to deport Musa Fofana, a Gambian national, for five months. They have not been able to because he is so combative and violent that they have not been able to get him on board an airplane. The INS is now seeking a court order that would allow it to sedate him so they could complete the deportation.
*********
INS agents in Mesa, Arizona, arrested 28 undocumented immigrants after finding them on a freeway ramp where the van they were riding in stalled. Mostly from Guatemala and El Salvador, they were on their way to California.
*********
Six immigrants were killed in a wreck in Colorado last weekend. Another 14 were injured when the van they were traveling in was hit by a tractor-trailer. According to an INS official, it was the deadliest such accident in the Rocky Mountains. The driver of the truck has been charged with six counts of careless driving resulting in death. The driver of the van, who survived the wreck, is also being investigated on possible smuggling charges. 
|