TNHarley
Diamond Member
- Sep 27, 2012
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He Crossed The Border In A Packed, Unventilated Trailer And Survived
Brandon Martinez, 16, was one of nearly 40 undocumented immigrants found on a blistering summer day inside an unventilated trailer parked at a San Antonio Wal-Mart. Ten died, and Brandon barely survived.
Federal officials who interviewed some of the survivors say that the human cargo was assembled and loaded into the truck in the border city of Laredo.
Some had paid smugglers to take them across the Rio Grande in rafts. One immigrant said there were as many as 200 people in the back of the truck.
Before he closed the door, one of the human smugglers reassured them that the truck had a refrigeration unit, but as the trip up Interstate 35 progressed they realized there was no cooling system. They took turns gulping outside air through a small vent hole, and began passing out. They pounded on the walls of the enclosure to get the driver's attention but he did not stop until he pulled over at the Wal-Mart, he says, to urinate. That's when, the driver claims, he was surprised to hear people in the trailer, opened the door and saw the grim scene inside with "bodies just lying on the floor like meat." It was a Wal-Mart employee who called 911. Many of the passengers fled on foot or were picked up by black SUVs before the police arrived.
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Sad story but I wonder who is paying for that hospital visit? Sure hope they deport him and his illegal father.
Brandon Martinez, 16, was one of nearly 40 undocumented immigrants found on a blistering summer day inside an unventilated trailer parked at a San Antonio Wal-Mart. Ten died, and Brandon barely survived.
Federal officials who interviewed some of the survivors say that the human cargo was assembled and loaded into the truck in the border city of Laredo.
Some had paid smugglers to take them across the Rio Grande in rafts. One immigrant said there were as many as 200 people in the back of the truck.
Before he closed the door, one of the human smugglers reassured them that the truck had a refrigeration unit, but as the trip up Interstate 35 progressed they realized there was no cooling system. They took turns gulping outside air through a small vent hole, and began passing out. They pounded on the walls of the enclosure to get the driver's attention but he did not stop until he pulled over at the Wal-Mart, he says, to urinate. That's when, the driver claims, he was surprised to hear people in the trailer, opened the door and saw the grim scene inside with "bodies just lying on the floor like meat." It was a Wal-Mart employee who called 911. Many of the passengers fled on foot or were picked up by black SUVs before the police arrived.
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Sad story but I wonder who is paying for that hospital visit? Sure hope they deport him and his illegal father.
