Posted on 05/01/2006 3:33:25 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
A van packed with 55 people and equipped with specially-modified tires drove the wrong-way across the U.S.-Mexico border early Monday and struck an oncoming vehicle before coming to a halt a short time later on a major freeway, officials said.
There were no immediate reports of any injuries in what appeared to be the latest in a series of smuggling attempts by drivers who take enormous risks in vans crowded with illegal immigrants.
The blue Ford XLT 350 van drove north at 3 a.m. in the southbound lanes of the San Ysidro Port of Entry, which links Tijuana, Mexico with San Diego. The van passed over a spike strip but its tires had been filled with silicone and did not instantly shred, U.S Border Patrol officials said.
As it crossed into the United States, the van struck an oncoming vehicle heading south into Mexico. Early morning traffic was light the busy border crossing.
The van continued north on southbound Interstate 5, then merged north onto southbound Interstate 805, where the driver exited the freeway and looped back around to head south back toward Mexico.
"He may have been disoriented, I can't really tell why he did that," said Michael Bermudez, a spokesman for the U.S. Border Patrol.
Agents did not chase the van, which halted in the southbound lanes of I-805 after one of its tires eventually shredded.
Bermudez said everyone in the van, including the driver, appeared to be illegal Mexican immigrants and the van had license plates from Mexico's Baja California state.
All 54 passengers were taken into custody at the scene. The driver fled but was found hiding in a nearby trash bin. All were being processed and were expected to be deported to Mexico, the Border Patrol said.
Smugglers take extreme risks to avoid being captured by the Border Patrol, sometimes racing down highways in the wrong directions with their headlights off at night:
-More than 20 people were injured, eight critically, on Feb. 10 when a van packed with 28 people crashed on the U.S. side of the border with Mexico.
-Last year, a van loaded with eight illegal Mexican immigrants slammed head-on into a pickup truck near Jamul, about 20 miles east of San Diego. Five people were killed.
-In 2003, a van drove against oncoming traffic on Interstate 8 for about 17 miles before swerving back into the westbound lanes. The van, reaching speeds of about 100 mph, spun out of control and crashed, injuring 19 suspected illegal immigrants.
-In 2002, a van carrying 27 people collided with a Ford Explorer on the same roadway. Five people in the van, including the driver, were killed, along with a man in the sport utility vehicle.
Just doing work that 'mericans don't want to do. (i.e., driving headon into oncoming traffic)
How about some of those one-way spikes like they have in parking lots?
Didn't they know it was supposed to be a day without immigrants!
55 people in a Ford F-350 van? The Border Patrol does not chase?
I see the driver disposed of himself in the proper receptical.
Did you read the article?
I guess you didn't read the article!
Weren't they supposed to take the day off?
They had it.
From the article: The van passed over a spike strip but its tires had been filled with silicone and did not instantly shred,
Frome the tag line:(If we learn nothing from history, what's the point of having one? ..........If we learn nothing from reading whats the point of clicking on article.
If only they'd just crash head-on into each other...
IF they chased and it crashed, bad press. We wouldn't want that, would we? /sarc
Amazingly enough, I did read the article. And the phrase spike strip.
Upright spikes you sling across the traffic lane and pull back once the vehicle drives over it. Looks like they've seen that before.
I mean those 45 degree angled into you bolted into the ground "give us our parking fee or we'll chew you right down to the axle" kind of spike plates.
Ain't no silicone gonna beat that.
Fifty-five people in a van?
Were they all midgets?
I think that is what they have on the southbound lanes going into Mexico. No body chased them in persuit.
..(placing back of hand on one hip and speaking with a pronouced lisp)..no but very close "friends"
Doogle
not true. I saw clowns do this at a circus once only it was in a VW bug.
I blame George Bush for this. He gave the green light to Mexicans to treat this nation like shit and to go as loco as they want when they try to invade. We will never seriously prosecute such desperadoes. I would equip the Border Patrol and Customs with RPGs and let them fire on such scum who endanger the public safety.
The pale faced Euro-Spanish Mexican elites laugh themselves to sleep each night when they read how crazy their peons behave in the gringo nation
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