A California crash that resulted in 13 deaths near the U.S.-Mexico border was found to be among the 44 people who sneaked into the United States through a 10-foot hole in southern California s border fence, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials.
The CBP said in a statement that all were suspected of entering the U.S. illegally, adding that they are now investigating the smuggling events, USA Today reported.
The agency said a surveillance video showed two cars leaving the place of the fence hole past 6 a.m. Tuesday. It noted that a Chevrolet Suburban, carrying 19 people, caught fire entering the country.
US News: The 13 people killed in one of the deadliest highway crashes involving migrants sneaking into the US had entered California through a section of borde
The Border Patrol says 13 people killed in a Southern California crash were among 44 people who entered the U.S. through a hole cut into the border fence with Mexico.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has started a human smuggling investigation into the crash of a big rig and an SUV on a California highway.
Crash Kills 13 on Route for Illegal Border Crossings By Elliot Spagat | March 4, 2021
HOLTVILLE, Calif. (AP) Barely a mile from where an SUV packed with 25 people struck a tractor-trailer killing 13 inside a cemetery with unmarked bricks is a burial ground for migrants who died crossing the border from Mexico to remote California desert.
Authorities are investigating whether human smuggling was involved in Tuesday’s early-morning collision that killed the 22-year-old male driver of the SUV and 12 passengers. The Mexican government said 10 of the dead were Mexican citizens and that nationalities of the three others who died was undetermined.
Seats of the 1997 Ford Expedition were removed except for the driver and right front passenger’s, said Omar Watson, chief of the California Highway Patrol’s border division.