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Identity of van driver determined in fatal bus crash (MN illegal)
Star Tribune ^ | 2/2508 | Curt Brown

Posted on 02/25/2008 10:29:57 AM PST by ButThreeLeftsDo

U.S. immigration officials say today they've determined the identity of the 24-year-old woman who drove a van into a school bus, killing four children last week in southwestern Minnesota.

The driver has been identified as Olga Marina Franco and she's from Guatemala, according to Gail Montenegro, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Chicago.

Franco has been charged with four counts of criminal vehicular homicide stemming from the Feb. 19 crash near Cottonwood. Witnesses say she blew through a stop sign, jumped over some railroad tracks and hit the rear of the bus, which tipped over and collided with a pickup truck.

The woman initially said her name was Alianiss Nunez Morales, but ICE officials said she was using a fake name and was here illegally.

Immigration agents first interviewed Franco on Feb. 21. During that interview, she said she was from Mexico. Investigators ran her fingerprints through databases and found no matches, hinting that she had no prior contact with immigration officials.

ICE has placed a detainer on Franco, so that if she is released from the Lyon County jail in Marshall for any reason, she will be turned over to federal authorities and placed in deportation proceedings.

(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Minnesota
KEYWORDS: alianissmorales; aliens; buscrash; illegal; illegals; immigration; olgamarinafranco
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo

If only she had had a driver’s license she would have been a safe driver. /open borders screed


61 posted on 02/25/2008 1:57:23 PM PST by TigersEye (This is the age of the death of reason.)
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To: AngelesCrestHighway

This time it wasn’t an illegal-alien Mexican. She’s an illegal-alien Guatemalan.


62 posted on 02/25/2008 2:23:12 PM PST by Verginius Rufus
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To: GatĂșn(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)

“Olga is a very common name in Latin America.

Odd. It is Russian by way of the Scandinavian Helga. What’s it doing in Latin America, unless we are talking about Russian (or Ukranian) immigrants?


63 posted on 02/25/2008 3:15:24 PM PST by From many - one.
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To: definitelynotaliberal
Morales is a blond, green-eyed Peurto Rican mother of 2 living in NY. Franco works at Jenny-O.

Thanks! If that's the case then I think Jenny-O has some explaining to do.

64 posted on 02/25/2008 4:19:08 PM PST by mewzilla (In politics the middle way is none at all. John Adams)
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo
This link mentions another employer for Franco....

Van driver identified

...The spokesman for the employer of Franco, MidContinent Cabinetry of the NorCraft Companies, would not tell 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS whether the company knew 'Morales' was illegal and using a fake ID.

65 posted on 02/25/2008 4:29:58 PM PST by mewzilla (In politics the middle way is none at all. John Adams)
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To: mewzilla

Funny, that.....

They won’t fess up....

But they are “in compliance with the law”

Loose, sanctuary, Minnesota laws.

Angry doesn’t descibe me.


66 posted on 02/25/2008 4:44:45 PM PST by ButThreeLeftsDo
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describe.


67 posted on 02/25/2008 4:45:13 PM PST by ButThreeLeftsDo
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To: martin_fierro

From Guatemala.

Two brothers were killed in this crash. A stop sign violation in rural Minnesota....

You know, I am so done with this issue. There would be no way I would rest until I was satisfied with results. For all those politicians and pundits who disagree or have opposing views, you’d have to give up YOUR families and YOUR welfare before I’d listen.

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080225/UPDATES/80225047


68 posted on 02/25/2008 5:56:28 PM PST by combat_boots (She lives! 22 weeks, 9.5 inches. Go, baby, go!)
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To: mewzilla

...spokesman...would not tell...whether the company knew if...was illegal...

...- - -... ...- - -...


69 posted on 02/25/2008 6:20:46 PM PST by combat_boots (She lives! 22 weeks, 9.5 inches. Go, baby, go!)
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To: Just mythoughts

Maybe this is where Dane is from:
http://www.channel3000.com/news/15407738/detail.html


70 posted on 02/25/2008 6:21:58 PM PST by Tspud1
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To: Tspud1

Interesting.... Could be but I think there is more a NE liberal taint, although WI does have its inbred liberals.


71 posted on 02/25/2008 6:36:04 PM PST by Just mythoughts (Isa.3:4 And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.)
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo

Hmm. I wonder how many welfare checks she’s been collecting.


72 posted on 02/25/2008 8:29:45 PM PST by Lijahsbubbe
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To: gunservative
Whoever employed her should be fined heavily.... excessively.

If an emploer knowingly hires an illegal, and that illegal subsequently kills an American citizen, the employer should be charged with felony murder.

73 posted on 02/25/2008 8:37:37 PM PST by Balding_Eagle (If America falls, darkness will cover the face of the earth for a thousand years.)
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To: AD from SpringBay
Both the school and the company who hired the driver should be held accountable.

See my post #73

74 posted on 02/25/2008 8:39:41 PM PST by Balding_Eagle (If America falls, darkness will cover the face of the earth for a thousand years.)
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To: Lijahsbubbe; mewzilla

“A Marshall resident who said he is a cousin of Franco’s said family members don’t know how Franco ended up with a false identity.

Relatives said Franco looked shocked and scared in the hospital and in the courthouse after the crash, the cousin said.

He added that Franco was “goodhearted.”

“Just like everybody else, she came to this country for the American dream ... all those dreams are shattered with this,” the cousin said.

He said that neither he nor other relatives wanted to identify themselves for fear their children might be harassed.

Franco moved to the United States three or four years ago, briefly living in Virginia before coming to live with friends in Montevideo, and then moving in with cousins in Marshall, the cousin said.

But Franco left Marshall to live in Willmar and “ended up hanging out with the wrong people,” the cousin said. She worked for several months at the Jennie-O plant in Willmar before taking a job in Cottonwood, which is about 140 miles west of the Twin Cities. Franco had told relatives that she’d recently moved to the town of Minneota with her boyfriend, whom they didn’t know, to be closer to her job with a cabinet maker in Cottonwood.

Franco said the boyfriend was in the van when the crash took place but fled the scene, leaving her pinned inside with a broken leg, according to the cousin.

Investigators have heard rumors that a man was in the van with Franco, but the investigation and interviews so far have not supported that, said Lt. Brian West of the Minnesota State Patrol.”

http://www.startribune.com/local/15942767.html


75 posted on 02/26/2008 4:53:45 AM PST by ButThreeLeftsDo (Carry Daily. Apply Sparingly.)
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo
But Franco left Marshall to live in Willmar and “ended up hanging out with the wrong people,”

She is the wrong people.

“Just like everybody else, she came to this country for the American dream ..

They've got the talking points down well, don't they.

all those dreams are shattered with this,”

This? Four children died. What about them? Their parents lost more than a dream.

76 posted on 02/26/2008 6:00:35 AM PST by Lijahsbubbe
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To: Lijahsbubbe

Yep, the crap is gettin’ deep.......


77 posted on 02/26/2008 6:03:02 AM PST by ButThreeLeftsDo (Carry Daily. Apply Sparingly.)
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo
Thanks for the ping. From this link...

Her name is Olga Franco. She's 24 and Guatemalan.

...ICE would not say how it determined Franco's identity.

I'd like to know why that is.

78 posted on 02/26/2008 7:32:52 AM PST by mewzilla (In politics the middle way is none at all. John Adams)
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To: mewzilla

Because waterboarding is illegal......


79 posted on 02/26/2008 7:36:46 AM PST by ButThreeLeftsDo (Carry Daily. Apply Sparingly.)
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo

Snort :) Seriously, though, I wonder why ICE is refusing to say. Maybe one of the local journos will exhibit some gumption and find out.


80 posted on 02/26/2008 7:40:31 AM PST by mewzilla (In politics the middle way is none at all. John Adams)
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