Immigration & refugees

Eight Dead After Car Strikes Crowd in Texas

MAY 8 2023·Updated MAY 9 2023

Story

Image credit: cnn

The Facts

A driver ran into pedestrians standing at a bus stop outside a migrant shelter in southern Texas on Sunday, killing at least eight people and injuring ten, in an incident that police are investigating as being possibly intentional.
CBS News
A spokesperson for the Brownsville Police Department said on Monday that 34-year-old George Alvarez has been charged with 8 counts of manslaughter and 10 counts of aggravated assault.
Axios
The suspect was detained at the scene by witnesses. Alvarez, who was also injured in the crash was previously charged with reckless driving in an unrelated incident.
Axios
Investigators are still determining if the crash was an accident or intentional. Witnesses have described seeing the driver ignore a red light and run over the people waiting at the bus stop.
CNN
The deadly wreck occurred in Brownsville Texas, at a bus stop across the street from the Bishop Enrique San Pedro Ozanam Center, which is a non-profit homeless shelter helping to house migrants. The victims are all believed to be Venezuelan migrants who recently arrived at the shelter.
CNN
The deadly crash in Brownsville, a border city, comes amidst a surge in migrants crossing into the US from Mexico as the COVID-era Title 42 immigration law expires Thursday.
NBC

Sources Split

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The Spin

Left narrative

This intentional act of violence against migrants comes amidst a discourse of intolerance in anticipation of the expiration of Title 42. No one, no matter their immigration status deserves to be the victim of a violent crime.

NPR Online News

Right narrative

While a tragic incident, there is no evidence that this crash was intentional or politically motivated. Brownsville is in a state of emergency because of an extreme influx of migrants in recent weeks. The fact that those who died were migrants could just be a tragic consequence of the pandemonium at the border.