Six men held in smuggling case that ended in van crash

Modesto Bee & AP ^ | February 16, 2006 | Elliot Spagat

[LouAvul]

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Six men accused in a migrant smuggling attempt that ended in a violent van crash were ordered held without bail Thursday.

Border Patrol agents and witnesses identified three men as drivers of three overcrowded vans and the others as foot guides who led more than 90 people from Tijuana, Mexico, to San Diego's Otay Mesa industrial warehouse district.

One van carrying 28 people careened off a state highway into an embankment after the Border Patrol laid spike strips, injuring 21 people, according to authorities. The Mexican Consulate in San Diego said all of the injured have been released and returned to Mexico except for the defendants and witnesses.

The six defendants stood next to each other in white or khaki jumpsuits, showing no emotion as they told U.S. Magistrate Judge Jan Adler they waived their rights to petition for bail. They were charged on two counts of immigrant smuggling.

According to the complaint, a witness told a Border Patrol dispatcher that 200 suspected illegal immigrants were running about 1/4-mile north of the Mexican border Friday afternoon and many were filing into vans and a black sedan.

One van carrying 36 people got stuck in traffic on a side street, the complaint said.

[LouAvul]

This has got to stop. And it will only stop if we stop giving benefits to criminal immigrants and their children, and start shutting down the businesses that use them.

[jazusamo]

This happened in broad daylight. I saw the coverage right after the crash on FNC live.

[xJones]

A real country has real borders, or so they say. But we don't have a southern border because every Mexican, etc. has an excellent chance of illegally entering the U.S. So why does Homeland Security apply to every thing else BUT the U.S./Mexican border?

Terrorists would have a much harder time hijacking an airplane now, but they can blend in with the hundred of thousands illegals crossing the border each year, most of whom come in with no problem. Homeland Security is nothing but a bad joke as long as we allow almost everybody that wants to violate our laws and sneak in. American citizenship means nothing these days, the illegals laugh about it.

[Supernatural]

One van carrying 28 people. Another van carrying 36 people. If 90 people were involved in three vans, that means the other van was carrying 26 people. And about 200 people were involved in all. Buy the law of averages, many got away. It is amazing that any even got caught.

Dangerous overloads. Amazing that the tires didn't all pop and go flat. Not to mention that the vans wouldn't handle worth a crap and probably could hardly negotiate a curve.

The immigration officers are completely overwhelmed.

Build the friggen' wall, please, Mr. President. Unless the Mexican govt. is blackmailing you, you need to do something YESTERDAY!!!