16 illegal entrants injured in pickup-truck rollover

Arizona Daily Star ^ | 08/22/04

[SandRat]

A pickup truck packed with 22 undocumented entrants crashed in the desert west of Tucson Saturday afternoon, sending 16 people to local hospitals, authorities said.

U.S. Border Patrol agents saw people crammed into the bed of the truck and started a pursuit as the vehicle headed north on Arizona 286 and turned onto Arizona 86 toward Tucson, said Deputy Dawn Barkman, a spokeswoman for the Pima County Sheriff's Department.

Border Patrol agents backed off when the driver of the stolen truck started getting reckless, Barkman said. The truck left the road and flipped about three miles east of Three Points.

The driver, a suspected people-smuggler, was able to escape, Barkman said.

One person was flown to a Tucson hospital and 15 others, including three children, were taken by ambulance. Six people were taken into Border Patrol custody, Barkman said.

She said none of the injuries was considered life-threatening.

[SandRat]

Photos by Chris Richards / Arizona Daily Star

Illegal entrants await medical attention after a stolen pickup truck packed with 22 of them rolled over in the desert near Three Points.

Three Points firefighter/EMT Dennis Robinson tends to a young girl at the scene.

A young woman and a young girl wait for medical attention at the scene of a rollover near Three Points, Arizona, Saturday, August 21, 2004. A stolen late-model Blue Dodge four-door pickup truck carring suspected illegal entrants drove into the desert south of Arizona 86 to during and attempted stop by the U.S. Boder Patrol. Sixteen patients, including several children and a pregnant woman were treated by emergency service personel from multiple organizations and taken to Tucson hospitals

[SandRat]

Ping

[Lijahsbubbe]

"Entrants"? That's a new one.

[1john2 3and4]

i noticed that too. at least it got "illegal", instead of the usual 'undocumented' claptrap....

[traumer]

So this is ONE truck that spilled it's load.... Out of HOW MANY ??

I live by I-35 and the NAFTA traffic is just beyond your imagination !

[1john2 3and4]

though they did manage to get it (undocumented) in the first part....

[texastoo]

Entrants may be new but their medical bills aren't new. The flight to Tuson was probably $10,000.

[bayourod]

Calling all Buchanan/Tancredo Bush-haters. Only by electing Kerry can we force the Republican Party to come crawling on their knees to us begging our forgiveness for not nominating the great Buchanan and demanding that we take control of the Republican Party.

[hershey]

PC run amok.

[junta]

Injure any citizens?

[hershey]

The good news, besides the fact that the pregnant woman will undoubtedly give birth to her baby in the US, is that none of the injuries were life threatening. But...surely they can sue someone with deep pockets. Calling Edwards!

[NautiNurse]

undocumented entrant

good grief--they make it sound like a sporting event.

[jriemer]

undocumented entrants?

It's as if there is a MSM contest for the most convuluted way to describe illegal immigrants.

[traumer]

Who will pay for all the medical attention :oO !!?
(I'm afraid I know the answer...)

[traumer]

What undocumented... ?

[traumer]

[Leatherneck_MT]

Calling all Buchanan/Tancredo Bush-haters. Only by electing Kerry can we force the Republican Party to come crawling on their knees to us begging our forgiveness for not nominating the great Buchanan and demanding that we take control of the Republican Party.


Your continued display of ignorance towards people never ceases to amaze me.

[camas]

you would like to elect kerry?? dropped on your head at birth??? buchanan flunked history. he said that the Germans did not kill Jew's in ww2. the only way to fix the problem is the change/fix the governments of the countries where these people come from so they can make a living there.

[SandRat]

The Lame Stream Media and all liberals just can't bring themselves to be accurate. To be accurate might be judgmental and prejudicial so they can't be accurate.

[joesnuffy]

AL-QAIDA SAID TO RECRUIT IN LATIN AMERICA

(08-21-2004) - Governments throughout Mexico and Central America are on alert as evidence grows that al-Qaida
members are traveling in the region and looking for recruits to carry out attacks in Latin America - the potential last frontier
for international terrorism.

The territory could be a perfect staging ground for Osama bin Laden's militants, with homegrown rebel groups, drug and
people smugglers, and corrupt governments. U.S. officials have long feared al-Qaida could launch an attack from south of
the border, and they have been paying closer attention as the number of terror-related incidents has increased since last
year.

The strongest possible al-Qaida link is Adnan G. El Shukrijumah, a 29-year-old Saudi pilot suspected of being a terrorist cell
leader. The FBI issued a border-wide alert earlier this month for Shukrijumah, saying he may try to cross into Arizona or
Texas.

In June, Honduran officials said Shukrijumah was spotted earlier this year at an Internet cafe in Tegucigalpa, the capital of
Honduras. Panamanian officials say the pilot and alleged bombmaker passed through their country before the Sept. 11
attacks on the United States.

U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft in May singled out Shukrijumah as one of seven especially dangerous al-Qaida-linked
terror figures wanted by the government, which fears a new al-Qaida attack. A $5 million reward is posted for information
leading to his capture.

Mexican and U.S. border officials have been on extra alert, checking foreign passports and arresting any illegal migrants. In
a sign of a growing Mexican crackdown, eight people from Armenia, Iran and Iraq were arrested Thursday in Mexicali on
charges they may have entered Mexico with false documents, although they did not appear to have any terrorist ties.

Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, Mexico's top anti-crime prosecutor, said Mexican officials have no evidence that
Shukrijumah - or any other al-Qaida operatives - are in Mexico. But Mexican authorities are investigating and keeping a
close eye on the airports and borders.

"The alert has been sounded," Vasconcelos told The Associated Press last month.

In Central America, Honduran Security Minister Oscar Alvarez said officials have uncovered evidence that terrorists, likely
from al-Qaida, may be trying to recruit Hondurans to carry out attacks in Central America. He did not offer details.

El Salvador authorities last week reinforced security at the country's international airport and along the borders after
purported al-Qaida threats appeared on the Internet against their country for supporting the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq.
President Tony Saca, undeterred, is sending the country's third peacekeeping unit - 380 troops - to Iraq.

Terrorists have struck in Asia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the United States. Latin America could be next, analysts
say, especially as it becomes harder to operate elsewhere.

"If there is a crackdown, they are going to pick up shop and move," said Matt Levitt, a terrorism analyst and senior fellow at
the Washington Institute.

Officials worry the Panama Canal could be a likely target. In 2003, boats making more than 13,000 trips through the
waterway carried about 188 million tons of cargo.

Earlier this month, the United States and seven Latin American countries - including Argentina, Chile, Colombia, the
Dominican Republic, Honduras, Peru and Panama - carried out a weeklong anti-terror exercise aimed at protecting the
canal.

In South America, U.S. officials have long suspected Paraguay's border with Brazil and Argentina as an area for Islamic
terrorist fund-raising. Much of the focus has fallen on the Muslim community that sprouted during the 1970s, and authorities
believe as much as $100 million a year flows out of the region, with large portions diverted to Islamic militants linked to
Hezbollah and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The more immediate concern is Mexico, which shares a porous, 2,000-mile border with the United States and is the home
to widespread organized crime.

In December, Mexican officials canceled two Aeromexico flights from Mexico City to Los Angeles, and a third was forced
to turn around after takeoff because of terrorism concerns.

At the time, the United States, Canada and Interpol told Mexico that officials suspected terrorists might be using Mexican
soil to plan an attack, Vasconcelos said.

Concerns increased this summer about whether Mexico was doing enough to screen international visitors after a
48-year-old South African woman arrived in Mexico with a passport that was missing several pages and then waded
across the Rio Grande into Texas.

Farida Goolam Mahamed Ahmed was arrested July 19 while trying to board a flight in McAllen, Texas. She pleaded
innocent Friday to immigration violations and was under investigation for links to terrorist activities or groups. Court
testimony indicated she traveled from Johannesburg on July 8, via Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to London, then to Mexico
City on or about July 14. The countries she traveled through do not require South Africans to have visas.

Mexican officials said Ahmed was not stopped upon entering Mexico because her name did not appear on any international
terrorist watch-lists.

Mexican officials say they are closely scrutinizing visa requests from the Middle East and have heightened surveillance at
the nation's largest airports since Sept. 11.

"The requirements for a visa for people from the Middle East have not changed, but all requests are being checked more
thoroughly," said Mauricio Juarez, a spokesman with Mexico's Migration Institute.

The country is a popular U.S. entry point for people trying to sneak into the United States, and the majority - 46 percent - of
all people arrested on immigration violations in Mexico come from Brazil. The rest are largely from the Americas, China or
Singapore.

It has become nearly impossible for people from Muslim countries to get visas to come to Mexico since the Sept. 11 attacks.


Fayesa Amin, a 37-year-old Pakistani, started the process to get a Mexican visa two months before she was to attend a
wedding in Mexico. The Mexican consulate in Karachi asked her to fill out several forms and to turn in copies of her credit
card and bank statements for a full year.

Amin, who runs three beauty salons in Pakistan, said Mexican authorities told her a visa had been approved and it could be
picked up in London. But Mexican officials there said her visa was being held in Ankara, Turkey. In the end, she ended up
spending her holiday stranded in London.

"I knew it would be hard to get to that part of the world and that everything had become more difficult," Amin said in a
telephone interview from Islamabad. "But I didn't realize how hard it could be."