At least seven people have been killed and an unknown number injured in a multiple collision near a shelter for migrants and homeless people in the border town of Brownsville, Texas. Most of the victims are Venezuelan immigrants, according to the director of the reception center.
The victims were waiting for a bus at around 8:30 a.m. (3:30 p.m. Spanish Peninsula time) at a bus stop outside the center of Obispo Enrique San Pedro Ozanam when the vehicle ran over them. A Brownsville Police spokesman, Lt. Martin Sandoval, said they are investigating whether the incident could have been intentional and whether the driver was “intoxicated,” which is why drug and alcohol tests are being conducted. So far he has been arrested on suspicion of reckless driving, but police say it is “more than likely” to bring further charges. Agents of his body and the Border Patrol join the investigation.
The director of the centre, Víctor Maldonado, told local media, which showed images from the surveillance cameras, that the vehicle, a Range Rover, passed an unmarked traffic light about 30 meters from the bus stop and “He the people who were sitting there.” The car fell on its side as it hit the sidewalk and continued for another seventy meters. Other pedestrians about ten meters from the stop were also hit.
The shelter is the only one in Brownsville that takes in overnight homeless people and manages the situation of thousands of migrants once they are released from federal custody. The center has a capacity of 250 residents, although it’s not uncommon to see more in a single day.
The event comes just four days before Thursday’s expiry of the measure known as Title 42, an ordinance passed during Donald Trump’s tenure that allows public health reasons to be argued around the Covid pandemic to proceed with the expeditious deportation of migrants in an irregular situation. Fears that the end of this measure could lead to an increase in illegal border crossings has prompted the White House to authorize the deployment of 1,500 troops to the area to reinforce border patrols.
Brownsville is a population of approximately 186,000, across from the Mexican city of Matamoros. According to the most recent US census, 95% of the population is Hispanic.
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