Harvest of death on the Eastern Shore (Illegal Alien Drunk Drivers)

Virginian Pilot Online ^ | October 13, 2005 | BILL BURKE

[Travis McGee]

By BILL BURKE, The Virginian-Pilot © October 10, 2005

The Ford Escort was racing north on rural Seaside Road, its occupants headed home from a wedding, when it ran a stop sign at 55 mph.

The driver of a Ford F-150 traveling east through the intersection never saw the Escort, police said.

The T-bone crash killed the driver of the Escort, Rene Leyva-Perez, and 4-year-old Daniel Salazar, who was in the back seat. Daniel’s pregnant mother, Marina Salazar, and the driver of the pickup were injured.

When police arrived, they discovered that Leyva-Perez had no auto insurance or driver’s license – only a laminated ID card issued by the tomato-packing plant where he worked – and that the car was registered to a woman in Chesapeake and had Michigan plates.

In the Escort’s wreckage, they found empty cans of Modelo Especial – acclaimed in Mexico as “the elite of beers.”

That violent collision nine days ago, on an unlit stretch of Accomack County blacktop, is the latest example of a deadly trend:

Since 2002, more than 90 people have been injured and 18 killed on the Eastern Shore in accidents involving Hispanic workers driving rogue vehicles.

The fatalities represent about one-fourth of the 71 highway deaths on the Eastern Shore in that period, even though the year-round Hispanic population makes up only 5 percent of the region’s 51,000 residents. Those numbers swell during tomato-picking season, from July through early November, when most of the fatalities occurred.

Accidents like the one on Oct. 1 have helped make the 77-mile stretch of U.S. 13 from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel to the Maryland state line one of the most treacherous highways in Virginia. In 2003, the fatality rate – deaths per miles driven – on that span of U.S. 13 was more than four times the rates on Interstates 64, 81 and 95 in Virginia.

In all but three of the fatal accidents in which Hispanics were at the wheel, the drivers had no insurance. In most cases, the vehicles had no inspection stickers, the drivers carried no license and alcohol was a factor. The vast majority of the victims in the fatalities were Hispanic.

A review of State Police auto accident reports for 2002 through 2004 on the Eastern Shore also revealed that of the 179 accidents involving Hispanic laborers:

Three-fourths of the drivers had no auto insurance – more than four times the national rate for uninsured motorists.

Nearly all of the vehicles driven by migrants and other laborers were registered to other drivers.

Ninety-three percent of the vehicles had out-of-state tags – most of them from Tennessee.

The number of injuries per accident was about 50 percent higher than the statewide average.

The troopers patrolling U.S. 13, a busy artery connecting Hampton Roads to the populous Northeast, are frustrated by the pattern of lawlessness and mayhem.

Only 10 troopers are assigned to the highways that crisscross the Eastern Shore’s 263 square miles – and on some shifts there is only one trooper on duty for each of the Shore’s two counties. First Sgt. J.P. Koushel, who oversees the Shore’s troopers, said his unit is “tremendously understaffed” and that he has requested additional manpower.

“Right now we’re just running from call to call,” Koushel said. “We can’t even be pro active anymore.”

Koushel said most of the vehicles involved in accidents that kill and injure fail to meet Virginia highway safety standards. He called it “a mockery” of the state’s vehicle registration law.

Tennessee plates

The state of Tennessee appears to be an enabler for many of the illegal drivers.

Up and down the Eastern Shore, in the work camps and housing complexes where migrants and year-round laborers live, Tennessee plates abound. Eastern Shore law enforcers suspect there is a flourishing black market for Tennessee tags.

There has been speculation of a mail-order operation, but postmasters say they cannot discuss the nature of their mail. Officials for the State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation would not say if they are looking into the Tennessee tag issue.

Tennessee’s titling and registration regulations are among the most lax in the nation. Several migrants interviewed recently said they got Tennessee tags because they were turned down by Virginia’s Department of Motor Vehicles.

Tennessee does not require identification or proof of insurance when a vehicle is titled and plates are issued, as long as the motorist pays cash. Most states require identification or proof of insurance; Virginia requires both.

Tennessee state Sen. Bill Ketron said his state’s legislature has failed to close the loophole because of pressure from the powerful auto insurance industry, which he says “wants to be able to cherry-pick who they sell to,” rather than being forced to insure high-risk drivers. He plans to introduce a bill during the next legislative session, which begins in January, that would toughen titling and registration requirements.

The problem also has come to the attention of Virginia’s Migrant and Seasonal Farm Workers Advisory Board. The Tennessee license plate matter is “a political hot potato,” said Kenneth E. Annis of Exmore, chairman of the 15-member board.

Annis promised that it will be addressed at the board’s next meeting. The board, which meets four times a year, can recommend changes to the governor or the General Assembly.

Other regions with significant Hispanic populations, such as Rockingham County in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley and the Greensboro/Winston-Salem area of North Carolina, have not seen significant numbers of cars with Tennessee tags, say law enforcement officials there.

But on the Eastern Shore, “Somebody is making it very easy for these drivers to get Tennessee tags,” Annis said. “It’s all very fishy.”

And deadly. In the 13 fatal accidents since 2002 involving Hispanic workers, six vehicles bore Tennessee tags.

Many of the Tennessee plates on the Shore were issued in Union County, in the eastern part of the state near the Virginia border – about a nine-hour drive from the Shore.

Jim Houston, county clerk for Union County, said Tennessee officials are aware of the problem. Houston said his office sees “quite a few” Hispanics registering vehicles, “and I think the number’s increasing.”

When the topic of migrants titling vehicles came up at a recent meeting of Tennessee clerks, Houston said, “One of the other clerks said, 'Lord, we’re overrun with them.’”

[Old Professer]

The purpose of that goofy bill was to keep the docket from being overcrowded with Juan Doez...

[staytrue]

Nobody is saying drunk drivers are all Hispanic. Reread my post, the illegal was sober

Ok, but if you reread my posts, I never said anything about all hispanics being drunk, what I did say is that bad driving is bad driving.

[staytrue]

Is this the reason why some idiots want give illegal aliens (criminals) drivers licenses? I still don't know the purpose of that goofy idea.

They probably should be able to get a non resident drivers license which does not allow them to vote or get welfare, but does qualify them to be drivers. Most countries recognize a US drivers license to be valid for operating a motor vehicle, but some require an international drivers license.

[zeugma]

You want police check points, tovarsch?

There are a suprising number of people on this board who will welcome the police state with open arms.

[staytrue]

Your point really is, "Stop talking about this, you racist pigs" isn't it?

My point is to stop exploiting fringe issues as an excuse to kick out the illegals. Here the fringe issue is bad driving. Ok if the bad driving is the cause of your anti illegal anger, then fix the problem by a guest worker program where those who are bad drivers don't get in. Or better is a guest worker program where before being admitted you have to go a nascar driving school at your expense.

Bottom line, the anti illegal freepers want the illegals gone even if they could drive like Richard Petty.

You want the illegals gone, then say you want the illegals gone. But do not say you want the illegals to be better drivers.

[flashbunny]

"Which is why if a guest worker program was adopted (and this is almost universally opposed on FR) this would help keep out the criminals and potential terrorists"

A guest worker program is fine under certain conditions, but in no way should it be introduced without
a) Building a secure border fence and properly manning it B) deporting all illegals you can find, including a reward system to encourage 'snitching'.
C) guest workers should only be able to apply from their own country. No rewarding illegal behavior by giving guest worker cards to those already here
d) massive, crippling fines for those who hire illegal workers
e) guest worker program is only implented after borders have been closed and illegals deported. Only then can you determine how many 'guest workers' are needed.

Given the history of the government, they will promise more controls in exchange for helping illegal aliens. Then, they will help the illegal aliens and not do anything to enforce the laws they promised. Stronger enfrorcement needs to come first.

No way we should fall for the 86 amnesty bait and switch again. That was a disaster.

[staytrue]

It is also disgusting that he doesn't have to run back across the border, but only has to move a couple of miles

FYI, if you read the article, the location is Virginia.

[ghitma]

Send it to president@whitehouse.gov

[staytrue]

There are a suprising number of people on this board who will welcome the police state with open arms.

They want the police to kick the illegals out and the muslims too.

I think profiling the muslims for terrorism may not be a bad idea. We do have freedom of religion, but I think a lot of muslim, especially certain variations of muslim is a cult and not a religion that can be tolerated.

[Borax Queen]

No, no, he's busy turning into Jimmy Carter, building houses for humanity, instead of doing anything about the illegal alien issue.

[RFEngineer]

"You want the illegals gone, then say you want the illegals gone. But do not say you want the illegals to be better drivers."

Is it ok to say that lack of respect for immigration laws manifests itself in lack or respect for ALL our laws?

Is it ok to say that if immigration law were enforced, the illegals would mostly not be here, and hence, would not be driving drunk on the eastern shore killing people?

I just want your approval so nobody, you know, points out something obvious like illegals are either ignorant of, or comptemptuous of, our laws - to the point where they don't fear any repercussions of, say, drunk driving.

It's only a "fringe" issue because the gov't won't enforce the obvious direct issue.

Drunk, uninsured, unlicensed illegals driving stolen/untraceable automobiles kill people. Isn't really a "fringe" issue to me, though.

[staytrue]

Is it ok to say that lack of respect for immigration laws manifests itself in lack or respect for ALL our laws?

You can say it, but I am going to disagree with it. I personally have the greatest respect for most of our laws, but every day I refuse to wear a seatbelt.

Further, the level of general law breaking in hispanic communities is higher than that of caucasians, but lower than that of the citizen african american communities.

[Travis McGee]

Sorry to hear about this avalanche of calamity....

[from occupied ga]

FYI, if you read the article, the location is Virginia.

So what? What does this have to do with the ability of illegal aliens to disappear when they're charged with crimes?

[from occupied ga]

It was a statement. I am more worried about uninsured drunk drivers than checkpoints.

Not me. I'll take my chances with the drunks rather than put up with further descent into a totalitarian police state.

[Travis McGee]

---

U.S. Constitution Article 4 Section 4:

"The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government,

and shall protect each of them against Invasion;"

---

Invasion: \In*va"sion\, n. [L. invasio: cf. F. invasion. See Invade.] [1913 Webster]

1. The act of invading; the act of encroaching upon the rights or possessions of another; encroachment; trespass.

It's amazing, the lengths the Quisling Brigade will go to to defend the criminal alien invasion. They would sell their daughters to bordellos, and claim they were "modeling academies." Small wonder that they could care less about criminal invaders killing innocent, law-abiding Americans on our highways.

Quisling: a synonym for traitor, someone who collaborates with the invaders of his country.

[Sterco]

As you wish "I WANT THE ILLEGALS GONE!!!"

[bk1000]

...just causing alcohol related accidents and injuries Americans don't want to....

[from occupied ga]

There are a suprising number of people on this board who will welcome the police state with open arms.

Appypappy is apparently one. Like I told him, I'd rather take my chances with the drunks.

[staytrue]

As you wish "I WANT THE ILLEGALS GONE!!!"

I'm not much in disagreement with this. I'm a fence sitter actually. I do see pluses and minuses with the illegals. I think I'm in favor of a guest worker program where you can weed out the undesirables and also for reduceing the total number of mexicans. From empiracle evidence (what I see with my eyes), fewer is better, but some are useful. I think about 50% would be about right.