Federal Border Patrol adopted higher bar for car chases after series of fatal accidents. On the morning of October 4, Wendy J. Rodriguez, 44, was driving to work in El Paso, Texas, after her dropping her children off at daycare. As she approached the intersection of Artcraft and Upper Valley roads, a car sped through a red light and rammed her vehicle. Nearly 10 percent of those killed in the chases were uninvolved bystanders, per the group.
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The vast majority of these chases began based on low-level “traffic violations,” while more than half of the department’s chases causing injuries have been in Lone Star counties. “To end unnecessary injuries and deaths, many law enforcement agencies nationwide have restricted vehicle pursuits to situations where they are necessary to prevent death, injury, or serious damage to property,” Vicki B. Gaubeca, associate director for US immigration and border policy at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. “Texas state troopers should consider human life paramount and cease putting people’s lives, including those of Texans and bystanders, at risk.”.
The Independent has contacted the Department of Public Safety for comment on the findings. Texas officials credit Operation Lone Star with dramatic reductions in illegal border-crossing into the state, but critics say these figures come at a cost. As The Independent has reported, the surge of state troopers and Texas National Guard personnel has created an atmosphere of fear for Latinos in border counties.
“This is like a rights-free area,” Michelle Serrano, of the local advocacy group Voces Unidas Rio Grande Valley, said late last year. “We’re talking about an area where they freely racially profile us. It feels like a separate but equal situation.”. Despite these concerns, the Trump administration is looking to further entwine state and federal immigration enforcement with local policing. And the White House is also seeking to cut federal funding to “sanctuary” jurisdictions that limit the extent that local police assist with federal immigration cases.
