ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Two brothers from Mexico are facing federal charges after fleeing U.S. authorities in late July and crashing their vehicle, killing two and injuring 10 others just miles from the border. international.
Federal prosecutors announced Tuesday that Jorge Garcia-Rascon, 21, and Julio Garcia-Rascon, 19, have been charged with conspiracy to smuggle immigrants resulting in death. They will remain in custody awaiting trial.
The accident occurred after Border Patrol agents attempted to stop traffic. The brothers fled despite the fact that the agents ceased their pursuit in the hope of avoiding any type of pursuit that could endanger the occupants or other vehicles.
According to a criminal complaint filed in US District Court, the brothers had also been smuggled. The older brother, speaking in Spanish, told authorities that he was transporting other migrants to pay off his debt for being brought to the United States.
Jorge Garcia-Rason testified that he and his brother were staying at a motel in El Paso, Texas, and were transporting migrants for an unidentified smuggling organization. He said that he had transported six migrants to Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the week before the accident.
Julio García-Rascón told authorities that he had once transported immigrants from El Paso to Albuquerque and was paid $500 per person. According to court documents, he claimed his employer told him not to stop if the police tried to stop him.
A public defender appointed to represent the brothers did not immediately return a message seeking comment on the case.
The brothers’ truck caught the attention of authorities patrolling near Santa Teresa, New Mexico. The SUV appeared to be heavy after passing. Border Patrol agents turned off emergency lights and sirens after their attempt to stop the vehicle failed.
The driver continued to speed away and eventually lost control, flipping and flipping the vehicle.
Authorities said the brothers tried to flee the crash but were detained.
In the weeks before the accident. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol reported that authorities working in the El Paso sector, which includes the New Mexico stretch of the international border, had disrupted 20 vehicle-based human smuggling schemes involving nearly 130 smuggled migrants.
The agency also reported that it raided three hideouts in late July and found more than 100 immigrants who were in the country illegally. Those migrants were from Guatemala, El Salvador, Ecuador, Mexico and Honduras.
The Border Patrol has reported that during the last fiscal year, agents working in New Mexico and West Texas located more than 175 stashes in which 1,975 migrants were found.
Statistics published by the federal government on Monday They show that migrants were stopped fewer times at the US-Mexico border in July than in June, but that flows were still unusually high.
Del Rio, Texas, was the busiest corridor for illegal crossings among the nine Border Patrol sectors on the border with Mexico, where agents apprehended migrants 49,563 times in July. The Rio Grande Valley of Texas, long the busiest, came in second with 35,180 stops.
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