SUV in deadly crash came through border fence hole
HOLTVILLE, Calif. — The 13 people killed in one of the deadliest highway crashes involving migrants sneaking into the U.S. entered California through a section of border fence with Mexico that was cut away, apparently by smugglers, immigration officials said Wednesday.
Surveillance video showed a Ford Expedition and Chevrolet Suburban drive through the opening early Tuesday, said Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol’s El Centro sector chief. The video hasn’t been publicly released because it’s part of an ongoing investigation.
The Suburban carried 19 people, and it caught fire for unknown reasons on a nearby interstate after entering the U.S. All escaped the vehicle and were taken into custody by Border Patrol agents.
The Expedition crammed with 25 people continued on, and a tractor-trailer struck it a short time later. Ten of the 13 killed in that crash have been identified as Mexican citizens. The Border Patrol said its agents weren’t pursuing the vehicle before the wreck.
The opening in the fence was about 30 miles east of the crash in the heart of California’s Imperial Valley, a major farming region now at the height of a harvest that provides much of the lettuce, onions, broccoli and winter vegetables to U.S. supermarkets.
It was made of steel bollards built before former President Donald Trump blanketed much of the border with taller barriers that go deeper into the ground. Photos show a panel of eight steel poles was lifted out and left in the desert next to an old tire and other debris.
BAGHDAD — A U.S. contractor died during a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base Wednesday, the Pentagon said, posing a fresh challenge to the Biden administration days after it launched military action in retaliation for an earlier attack.
Iraq’s military said 10 Grad rockets had landed on the Ain alasad air base in the western province of Anbar, and that the vehicle they were launched from had been located. Around half of the rockets were intercepted by a U.S. aerial defense system, American and Iraqi officials said.
“A U.S. civilian contractor suffered a cardiac episode while sheltering and sadly passed away shortly after,” said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby, sharing no further information about the person’s identity. “There are no current reports of U.S. service member injuries, and all are accounted for.”
The attack came during a sensitive period for the President Joe Biden and the Iraqi government. While similar rocket attacks routinely have been claimed by or blamed on Iran-backed militia groups, Washington is trying to blunt the tensions that soared between Washington and Tehran during President Donald Trump’s years in office.
Asked about the attack, President Joe Biden told reporters, “We are following that through right now.”
He added, “Thank God, no one