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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 21, 2003)
(Ehe JJnrthm b (Bbseruer Page A6 M aj 21. 2003 1 Justice Sought Following Immigrant Deaths Julian and Sayer hears the news that her brother-in-law died while trying to sneak to Florida to work in a tomato packing plant Thursday May 15, 2003, in Pozos, Mexico. Eighteen illegal immigrants were found dead from suffocation and heat exhaus tion in and near a truck parked at a south Texas highway rest stop not far from the city of Victoria early on May 14, 2003, an emergency services official said. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) An unidentified body is transferred to a mobile morgue as officials investigate a site near Victoria. Texas where 18 people, believed to be illegal immigrants, were found dead in and around the trailer o f an 18-wheeler stopped at a truck stop. (AP photo) Driver Charged in 18 Texas Truck Deaths (AP) — A New York-based trucker was charged in federal court Thursday with transporting illegal immigrants after 18 members o f a group abandoned inside a semi trailer at a South Texas truck stop died. T y ro n e W illia m s of Schenectady, N.Y., was charged with transporting and harboring aliens and conspiracy to transport and harbor aliens, Victoria County District Attorney M.P. “ Dexter” Eaves said. Two people believed to have accompanied Williams were being sought, and other suspects could still be identified. Eaves said. “We want to get every bit o f justice for these guys,” Eaves said. “ I want this insurance for these 18 people - that they did not die in vain. I want an accounting.” Will iams likely will also face state charges, Eaves said. W illiam s’ wife, Karen, told the Houston Chronicle in a story for its online edition that her husband normally hauls watermelons from Minutes later, one hung a ban the border to the Northeast. She danna out o f a hole in the trailer’s said he told her the trailer was hi back door as it sped north on U.S. jacked and that he dropped the Highway 77. Another motorist saw trailer "forhisow n safety and ran." the signal, but his mobile phone The immigrants - front Mexico, El w asn’t working, so he couldn’t call authorities in time. The trailer had arrived at the truck stop about an hour before authorities got a call about an un specified disturbance there around 2a.m. Wednesday, VictoriaCounty Sheri ffM ichael Ratcliffsaid. When authorities reached the trailer, 13 people were dead inside and four other bodies were on the ground. A boy, 5 or 6 years old, was - Victoria County District among the dead, and another per Attorney M.P. “Dexter” Eaves son in the group died at a hospital Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras several hours later. - were locked inside the back o f a The smugglers had apparently sweltering, airless semitrailer and unhitched the trailer at a truck stop tried desperately to save themselves. near Victoria, about 175 miles from Onedialed911 onacellularphone the Mexican border, then drove off. and pleaded for help in Spanish. Insulation around several small But by the time a South Texas po holes in the back door w as scraped lice dispatcher found someone to away, suggesting the immigrants translate, the call had been lost. had tried to claw their way to get air. ™ / want this insurance fo r these 18 people - that they did not die in vain. I want an accounting. Truck Tragedy Victims Drawn by High Wages (A P )- Roberto Rivera hoped to be home in seven months. His wife was pregnant and the 24-year-old wanted to sneak across the U.S. border for the firs, time and make $ 1,000 before his second child was bom. “ ‘ With the pregnancy, I have no other choice,’” his brother, Julian Rivera, recalled Roberto telling his family. “ ‘I’ll go, and come right back.’” But Roberto and his brother Serafm became one o f 18 migrants killed in the deadliest immigrant smuggling incident on the U.S. border since 1987. Their trailer was abandoned in Texas, with estimated 70 to 85 migrants trapped and strug gling for air as temperatures inside grew unbearable. Family members say the risky trip was a matter o f desperation, no, choice. “N obody goes because they want to,” said Roberto’s brother- in-law, Samuel Gamez. “They have families and they need the money to support them.” Tw elve o f the dead have been identified as M exicans; the other Some banks charge you for cancelled checks even if you have free checking. 7- six dead w ere apparently Central A m ericans who also w en, north in search o f a better life, although the M exican consul in H ouston, E duardo Ibarrola, said som e o f the dead have not yet been iden tified. Ibarrola said U.S. authorities were offering to let some o f the 32 survi vors - the ones able to serve as witnesses against suspected immi grant traffickers - stay in the United States during the investigation. Others may be returned to Mexico. But no one will be returning to the Rivera brothers' hometown o f Pozos - named for a web o f irriga tion pipes that snake through this hamlet o f4 ,0 0 0 ,180 miles north o f MexicoCity. Here, the Rivera broth ers dug wells, worked construction and picked tomatoes, carrots and strawberries. But work was only avai lable some weeks, at $7 per day. T hat’s the main reason why Pozos is a town o f grandparents andchildren: Most men and women o f working age head north. Serafm had previously spent two years in Florida, where a tomato packing plant paid undocumented workers $4 an hour - wel I below the U.S. minimum wage but much higher than wages back home. “S erafm w as alw ays happy there," said his mother, Adelina Gamez. "H e’d call and say, ‘ Here a man earns a fair wage for his work. ’ Serafm left behind two young children. Other Mexican victims included a 31 -year-old father and his 6-year-old son. Sera fin, Roberto and a neighbor, Hector Ramirez, set offM ay S head ing to the border city o f Reynosa, across from McAllen, Texas. A group o f smugglers charged them nearly $2,000 each to cross the border. A lthough they had previously crossed w ith oth er sm ugglers, they chose to go with a new group that prom ised a faster route to Florida. It was a fatal decision. The smug glers apparently unhitched the trailer at a Victoria, Texas, truck stop, 175 miles from the Mexican border, and drove off, leaving the migrants in the airless, overheated container. J Lo, Telemundo Team Up v o - vc ./ a fe ?-.,. Singer/actress/designer Jennifer | Lopez has a new project up her sleeve: creating shows for Telemundo. Lopez and production partner Benny Medina announced the long term deal with the Span ish network. Their first project is a novella about a young Latina from the barrio who dreams of becoming a star. Sound familiar? An airdate is not set. 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FDIC Insured Í A P)— Former Presi “ I believe things are dent George Bush reas going well and are get sured President Vicente ting better every day Fox that U.S. and Mexi with this relationship,” can relations are still Fox said. strong, despite their dif Fox may meet the ferences over the war in current U.S. president Iraq, M exico’s foreign early next month at an secretary said. ex p an d ed G ro u p o f The elder Bush be Eight summit in France, lieves that "the great Derbez said. friendship" between his D erb ez sa id th e son and Fox remains former U.S. president firm, Luis Ernesto Derbez and Fox also discussed said after the hourlong ways to improve eco meeting last week. Bush nom ic relatio n s b e did not speak with re tween the three part porters. ners in the North Ameri Fox and the current can Free Trade Agree U .S. p resid en t w ere m en t: M e x ico , the both elected in 2000 U n ite d S ta te s an d and at first established Canada. unusually warm rela U .S . T re a s u re r tions. But the U.S. ad Rosario M arin visited Mexico's President Vicente Fox shake hands ministration becam e ir with former President George Bush in Mexico M exico last w eek and ritated when M exico said there w ould be City. (AP photo) d id n 't use its U.N. Se no rep risals ag ain st curity Council seat to support a U.S. invasion M exico for its anti-w ar stance. At the sam e time, o f Iraq. D erbez traveled to W ashington, prom ising to Fox said last week that the visit would be an support U.S. efforts to keep the 2,000-m ile com opportunity to “strengthen the relationship" with mon border free o f terrorists. the United States and “overcome differences" that To help in that effort, Mexico has tightened its arose out o f M exico's position on Iraq. own visa regulations. I <
