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  4. Summary of Incident: Migrant killed following failure to yield in El Paso, Texas

Summary of Incident: Migrant killed following failure to yield in El Paso, Texas

Release Date
Thu, 01/16/2025

This notification is being issued to the public pursuant to the CBP policy regarding Notification and Review Procedures for Certain Deaths and Deaths in Custody and the Department of Homeland Security FY 2021 Appropriation (H. Rept. 116-458) reporting requirements related to CBP-involved deaths.

On July 2, 2024, at approximately 5:34 p.m., Border Patrol Agents (BPA) assigned to the Santa Teresa Station’s Anti-Smuggling Unit were conducting surveillance operations in Santa Teresa, New Mexico while operating in plain clothes and in an unmarked Border Patrol vehicle. The BPAs observed a white two-door sedan arrive and pick up two suspected undocumented noncitizens in a parking lot located approximately 4.5 miles northwest of the Santa Teresa Port of Entry. The BPAs followed the suspected smuggling vehicle as it drove towards the New Mexico/Texas border. At approximately 5:35 p.m., the Agents requested the assistance of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) via radio communications, as they followed the sedan east toward Texas.

At approximately 5:46 p.m., the BPAs broadcasted via radio that the sedan had turned onto I-10, traveling eastbound. At approximately 5:49 p.m., a Texas DPS trooper in an unmarked unit began following the sedan, awaiting response by a trooper in a marked unit. At approximately 5:55 p.m., a trooper in a marked unit arrived and took the lead position immediately behind the sedan. At approximately 5:56 p.m., the trooper in the marked unit activated his emergency lights and initiated a vehicle stop.

At approximately 5:57 p.m., the BPAs reported via radio communications that the sedan did not yield to the marked unit. At approximately 5:58 p.m., the sedan stopped and appeared to yield, but then drove away, continuing east on I-10. The Agents remained stopped while the troopers pursued the sedan. At approximately 6:01 p.m., the Border Patrol Agents, using radio communications, reported they lost sight of the sedan. At approximately 6:02 p.m., a trooper reported that the sedan had crashed into another vehicle at the intersection of Airway Boulevard and Gateway Boulevard West, approximately 20 miles from location the BPAs initially observed it.

At approximately 6:03 p.m., the BPAs arrived at the crash site and assisted the troopers. The vehicle was occupied by the driver and five passengers. Agents and troopers assessed the condition of the occupants and found that one of the passengers in the back row was not breathing and had no pulse. At approximately 6:10 p.m., troopers began performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on the man.

At approximately 6:20 p.m., El Paso Fire Department arrived and assumed primary medical care of the man and the sedan’s other occupants. The fire department continued CPR on the man and transported him to University Medical Center of El Paso at approximately 6:25 p.m. Medical personnel in the hospital emergency department assumed primary care and reported that the man had regained a pulse but had to be placed on a ventilator. Doctors determined that the man had suffered a traumatic brain injury and was in a coma. Medical personnel listed the man in critical condition and admitted him into the intensive care ward, and the Border Patrol established a hospital watch. The fire department transported the sedan’s other passengers to the Hospitals of Providence East Campus and the driver to Del Sol Medical Center. Troopers arrested the driver and maintained custody of the driver during his transport and treatment to the hospital.

CBP Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) Special Agents interviewed the other passengers from the sedan. The passengers stated that on July 2, 2024, they entered the United States without inspection, found their way to the area where they were picked up, and got into a white two-door sedan. After traveling along the highway for approximately twenty minutes, they noticed that they were being followed by a marked police unit. The driver stopped at one point but sped away as two law enforcement officers approached the sedan. Passengers told the OPR Special Agents that the driver began to weave in and out of traffic at a high speed. The occupants asked the driver to stop and let them out, but the driver did not stop. Multiple passengers stated that they lost consciousness when the accident occurred. All the passengers said that they recalled law enforcement officers aiding them after the accident.

On July 8, 2024, Border Patrol notified OPR that on July 7, 2024, at approximately 5:48 p.m., doctors at the hospital had pronounced the man deceased. The El Paso Office of the Medical Examiner advised OPR an autopsy would not be conducted because the decedent had been under medical care at the time of his passing.

OPR is reviewing the incident. The Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General was notified.

Last Modified: Jan 27, 2025