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The South Texas Detention Center in Pearsall, Texas that the eight women were being takren to to reunite with their children. By GEO Group from Wikimedia Commons

Congressman asking ICE to explain their crash denial

Crash Questions
Sunday, August 12, 2018

Congressman Joaquin Castro is asking Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials to answer some questions related to an accident involving a van carrying eight women separated from their children. The accident occurred in San Marcos on July 18.

The Texas Observer reported that the van, driven by an employee of an ICE contractor, was taking the eight Central American women from a detention center near Austin to the South Texas Detention Center in Pearsall to be reunited with their children. A report from the San Marcos Police Department states that the van was exiting the Sunoco gas station at 1901 Interstate 35 North onto Mill Street when it struck a white Ford F250 pickup attempting to turn into the Sunoco gas station parking lot. The police report said the van was towed after the wreck and that damage to it was a 4 on a scale of 1-7.

Yet, the Texas Observer reported, ICE repeatedly denied that the crash took place. The women in the van told the Texas Observer that the impact of the crash slammed them into the seats in front of them but the women did not want to go to a hospital for fear that it would delay their reunion with their children. ICE officials told Castro’s office that once the women arrived in Pearsall, they were medically evaluated by ICE Health Service Corps.

The Observer said an immigrant rights activist in Austin alerted its reporters to the crash and that the next day, an ICE spokesperson denied the incident twice.

“Your sources misinformed you,” the spokesperson reportedly told the Observer. “There was no crash.”

ICE did not respond to three additional requests for comment, the Observer reported, and only issued a statement after the Observer informed ICE that they had a copy of the accident report. The statement said the accident was “a fender bender not vehicle crash” and that both vehicles “remained operable.” However, according to the SMPD report, the van was towed.

Castro has sent a letter to Ronald Vitiello, acting director of ICE, asking why ICE was not forthcoming about the accident.

Castro’s letter states that ICE responded to a request for more information with an email stating that a van with eight detainees was involved in a “fender bender” and that “No injuries were reported, only damage was to the bumper of the van. There was no crash involving detainees.”

Castro is also asking for an explanation of inconsistencies between what ICE’s Office of Congressional Relations told his office and the police report. He is also requesting records to show that the detainees were medically evaluated in Pearsall and an explanation of the recourse available to the women for injuries they might have sustained in the accident.

The Texas Observer’s initial report can be found on their website.

San Marcos Record

(512) 392-2458
P.O. Box 1109, San Marcos, TX 78666