BailJumper
01-16-2007, 10:15 AM
Anyone else see this story when it happend and notice how PC the news was trying to be?
They described it as "a mini van full of Mexican nationals with limited identification." Turns out it was a mini van full of illegals, but that just isn't PC enough these days.
***
Crash victims smuggled, officer says
By The Associated Press
The passengers in a minivan that crashed on a slick Oklahoma interstate during a winter storm, killing seven, were illegal immigrants being smuggled to North Carolina, a federal immigration officer confirmed Tuesday.
"This was a smuggling vehicle," said Carl Rusnok, a spokesman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Dallas office. "These people were being smuggled and transported illegally.
"The question now is whether there is a larger smuggling operation behind this particular vehicle."
Seven people, including the driver, died Sunday when the 1998 Chevrolet Astro van hit a patch of ice along Interstate 40, slid across the center median and slammed into an oncoming tractor-trailer. The crash happened about 3:50 a.m., when there was limited visibility and freezing rain in the area.
The van was heading from Nogales, Ariz., to North Carolina, along what Rusnok described as a common smuggling route.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol has not released the names of those killed in the crash.
Five other passengers were transported to the Great Plains Regional Medical Center in Elk City. At least one of the survivors was released and taken into federal custody, Rusnok said.
They described it as "a mini van full of Mexican nationals with limited identification." Turns out it was a mini van full of illegals, but that just isn't PC enough these days.
***
Crash victims smuggled, officer says
By The Associated Press
The passengers in a minivan that crashed on a slick Oklahoma interstate during a winter storm, killing seven, were illegal immigrants being smuggled to North Carolina, a federal immigration officer confirmed Tuesday.
"This was a smuggling vehicle," said Carl Rusnok, a spokesman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Dallas office. "These people were being smuggled and transported illegally.
"The question now is whether there is a larger smuggling operation behind this particular vehicle."
Seven people, including the driver, died Sunday when the 1998 Chevrolet Astro van hit a patch of ice along Interstate 40, slid across the center median and slammed into an oncoming tractor-trailer. The crash happened about 3:50 a.m., when there was limited visibility and freezing rain in the area.
The van was heading from Nogales, Ariz., to North Carolina, along what Rusnok described as a common smuggling route.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol has not released the names of those killed in the crash.
Five other passengers were transported to the Great Plains Regional Medical Center in Elk City. At least one of the survivors was released and taken into federal custody, Rusnok said.