Two Mexican nationals and three U.S. citizens were charged Tuesday in a human-smuggling scheme that ended in a deadly high-speed chase in southwest Texas.
Five illegal aliens were killed when an SUV jammed with 14 people tried to outrace Border Patrol officers. After hitting speeds topping 100 mph, Jorge Luis Monsivais, 20, lost control of the Chevy Suburban he was driving and rolled it several times as it neared the small town of Big Wells.
“They pack them in there like sardines. These drivers don’t care,” said Dimmit County Sheriff Marion Boyd. “This is a perfect example of why our borders need to be secured.”
Monsivais, of Eagle Pass, Texas, was held on federal charges of transporting illegal aliens and conspiracy to transport and harbor illegal aliens resulting in serious bodily injury and death, according to U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement.
Monsivais’ Suburban was part of a three-vehicle convoy pursued by Border Patrol agents. The two other vehicles pulled over before the high-speed chase began.
Also charged in the smuggling operation were 55-year-old Marcial Gomez Santana, a Mexican national; 45-year-old Mexican national Mariela Reyna; 21-year-old Rudy Gomez of Hockley, Texas; and Johana Gomez, 19, of Houston.
Convictions are punishable by life imprisonment or death.
Border Patrol officers apprehended 23 illegal aliens: 21 Mexican nationals and two Hondurans. Several people, including a 17-year-old driver, bailed out of one of the vehicles. Agents detained the juvenile and captured 10 suspected illegal aliens who attempted to flee.
Nine of the illegals in the wrecked Suburban were transported to a hospital, with one dying en route.
Predictably, the open-borders crowd second-guessed the Border Patrol’s actions, calling them “irresponsible” and “reckless.” The smugglers who triggered the deadly sequence of events evidently deserved a pass on this one.
Sheriff Boyd is having none of it. “We need a wall,” he said.