Brownsville Police Chief Felix Sauceda speaks at a information convention in Brownsville, Texas, on Monday.

Moises Avila/AFP through Getty Images

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Moises Avila/AFP through Getty Images

Brownsville Police Chief Felix Sauceda speaks at a information convention in Brownsville, Texas, on Monday.

Moises Avila/AFP through Getty Images

Police in Texas have recognized 34-year-old George Alvarez as the motive force who plowed into a bunch of individuals close to a migrant shelter Sunday morning.

Eight individuals died and 10 others have been injured within the crash in Brownsville, Texas, a metropolis of roughly 187,000 people who sits on the U.S.-Mexico border. The incident occurred round 8:30 a.m. Sunday morning at a bus cease exterior the Ozanam Center.

Police initially charged Alvarez with reckless driving, however Brownsville Police Chief Felix Sauceda mentioned Monday morning that authorities have additionally charged him with eight counts of manslaughter and 10 counts of aggravated assault with a lethal weapon.

“Through the investigation, it was found that the SUV ran a red light, lost control, flipped on its side and struck a total of 18 individuals,” he mentioned.

Sauceda mentioned authorities weren’t ruling out the likelihood that the crash was intentional, and famous that police have been ready on toxicology outcomes to find out if Alvarez was impaired.

Alvarez, a Brownsville native who Sauceda mentioned has an “extensive rap sheet,” apparently tried to flee after hitting the group however was held down by a number of bystanders. Alvarez has not been cooperating with investigators, the chief added.

All the victims have been male and no less than a few of them have been from Venezuela, Sauceda mentioned.

The victims have been in search of asylum within the U.S., a neighborhood support employee says

Victor Maldonado, government director of the Ozanam Center, mentioned in an e mail Monday morning that these killed and injured have been asylum-seekers.

“They came seeking refuge. They were staying at our shelter because they arrived in this country with very little,” Maldonado mentioned.

“It’s unclear what led to this tragedy but we do know that the victims who were taken to the hospital will need help in the days to come dealing with the horrific event, as will the families of those killed,” he added.

People can search asylum within the U.S. in the event that they concern they may very well be persecuted of their residence nation for social traits similar to their race, faith or political opinion, according to Refugee Council USA.

Maldonado mentioned the shelter had already acquired “a number of hate messages” and that its main focus now could be to supply counseling to witnesses and survivors, together with youngsters.

Immigration coverage is within the information forward of the expiration of Title 42

On Monday morning, sooner or later after the crash, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott held a press conference to debate what the state was doing to scale back unlawful immigration throughout its border with Mexico.

Abbott additionally criticized the Biden administration’s immigration insurance policies, together with the upcoming expiration of Title 42.

That coverage, which is ready to finish this week, is a public well being measure tied to the COVID-19 pandemic that allowed the federal government to show away asylum-seekers on the southern border.

Responding to a query from a reporter on the lethal incident in Brownsville, Abbott mentioned native officers informed him they anticipated to launch extra data on Monday about whether or not the motorist deliberately drove into the victims. Abbott’s look occurred earlier than the press convention in Brownsville.

Abbott was criticized simply over every week in the past for referring to the 5 victims of a latest mass taking pictures in Texas as “illegal immigrants,” although a spokesperson later walked the comments back, saying “[w]e regret if the information was incorrect and detracted from the important goal of finding and arresting the criminal.”

The incident has shaken the border metropolis of Brownsville

A neighborhood mass was held Sunday close to the place the crash occurred, and two vigils have been additionally deliberate for Monday, Texas Public Radio reported.

“I cannot describe the heartache I feel at hearing the news from this morning, not just as an advocate for the rights of migrants, but as a resident of Brownsville,” Rochelle Garza, president of the Texas Civil Rights Project, said in a tweet on Sunday.

Daniel E. Flores, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Brownsville, mentioned the Ozanam Center had served immigrants and the homeless for many years and that the diocese would proceed to take care of individuals who have been given permission by the federal government to remain within the U.S.

“We must resist the corrosive tendency to devalue the lives of immigrants, the poor, and the vulnerable,” Flores said in a statement. “Let us take extra steps as a local community to care for and protect one another, especially the most vulnerable.”

The Ozanam Center is situated 5 miles from migrant encampments in Matamoros, Mexico.