At least 13 people were killed in Southern California near the US/Mexico border when a Ford Expedition collided with a semi-truck in Imperial County. Others in the crash were injured.
The Expedition had over two dozen illegal immigrants stuffed in the back who are believed to have made their way into the US via a hole in an old run-down stretch of border fence outside of Calexico.
Only as a required formality, Border Patrol agents and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are investigating the matter further, but the conclusion is already clear.
El Centro Sector Chief Patrol Agent Gregory Bovino said, “We pray for the accident victims and their families during this difficult time.” Illegal immigrants or not, thirteen people with families died.
Authorities believe that a group of 44 migrants cut their way through the fence and were being transported in smaller groups as part of an existing smuggling operation. Calexico, California borders the town of Mexicali, Mexico.
“Initial investigation into the origins of the vehicles indicate a potential nexus to the aforementioned breach in the border wall. Human smugglers have proven time and again they have little regard for human life,” Bovino said.
He added, “Those who may be contemplating crossing the border illegally should pause to think of the dangers that all too often end in tragedy; tragedies our Border Patrol Agents and first responders are unfortunately very familiar with.”
Of the deceased and injured migrants, two were Guatemala, and ten have been so far identified as Mexican nationals. Other identities are still pending.
The incident is building steam and things are about to hit the White House fan. Lawmakers in southern border towns, Republicans and Democrats alike, have their hands full and they aren’t receiving any help. In stark contrast to what they need, Joe Biden has made a bad situation worse.
Biden’s soft-touch immigration policies, a number of which were enacted via executive order, have created a southern border crisis of unimaginable proportions. The migrants who are not already stacked up at our Southern Border are on their way.
The ones who get tired of waiting on the legal process of crossing the border can now simply swim the Rio Grande, cut a hole in a fence, or simply stroll in at their leisure.
Joe Biden doesn’t think there is a crisis. When asked if he was concerned, he replied, “No, we’ll be able to handle it.” That’s all he had to say about the matter. Who feels better already?
As one would expect from a D.C. Democrat, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the Trump administration is largely responsible for what we are now experiencing.
“Let me explain to you why [fixing the broken immigration system] is hard and why it is going to take time,” Mayorkas said. “I think it is important to understand what we have inherited because it defines the situation as it currently stands. Entire systems are not rebuilt in a day or in a few weeks.”
Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), could not disagree with Mayorkas’s complacency more. His district lies and he said the White House is not taking the matter seriously enough, especially in the midst of fighting a pandemic.
Cuellar indicated how the waters are rising quickly when he said, “It is not a crisis yet, but it will become a crisis. The numbers have been increasing, and as your report just said a few minutes ago, the numbers are just increasing every day. The number of unaccompanied kids, the number of families who are coming in are just increasing every day.”
The numbers will continue to spiral out-of-control unless the Biden administration takes a firm stance on immigration. But from what we are seeing so far, his team is taking things down a dangerous path by not sharpening their focus.
