‘There Was No Crash’: ICE Lied About Crash Involving Van Full Of Detained Mothers

on April 11, 2018 in New York City.
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 11: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), officers arrive to a Flatbush Gardens home in search of an undocumented immigrant on April 11, 2018 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. ... NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 11: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), officers arrive to a Flatbush Gardens home in search of an undocumented immigrant on April 11, 2018 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. New York is considered a "sanctuary city" for undocumented immigrants, and ICE receives little or no cooperation from local law enforcement. ICE said that officers arrested 225 people for violation of immigration laws during the 6-day operation, the largest in New York City in recent years. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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Immigration and Customs Enforcement repeatedly lied in an attempt to convince a news outlet that a crash – involving a van transporting eight Central American mothers who’d been separated from their children – never happened.

The Texas Observer revealed the deceit in a report Wednesday, in which it presented a detailed police report and interviews with some of the mothers to establish what really happened:

According to a police report obtained by the Observer and individual interviews with four of the passengers, the crash occurred as the group was leaving a Sunoco gas station just off Interstate 35. The van’s driver was an employee of Trailboss Enterprises, an Alaska-based company that provides transportation for ICE in Central and South Texas. The driver failed to come to a stop and T-boned an F-250 that was entering the gas station, police said. The mothers told the Observer the impact slammed them against the seats in front of them, resulting in headaches, dizziness, nausea and injury to one woman’s leg, which began swelling immediately.

Two days after the crash, an ICE spokesperson, Leticia Zamarripa, told the Observer: “Your sources misinformed you.”

“There was no crash,” Zamarripa said.

Informed later that the paper had obtained a contradictory police report, ICE tried a different tactic.

The incident was a “fender bender not vehicle crash,” ICE spokesperson Adelina Pruneda told the paper, one that “resulted in minor damage to both vehicles.”

That was also at odds with the police report, which called the damage to the van “disabling,” and said it was towed from the scene.

Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) also wants answers, having been given his own set of contradictory details from ICE.

Read the full Observer report here.

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Notable Replies

  1. “There was no crash,” ICE spokesperson Leticia Zamarripa said.

    “No collision! No collision!”

  2. And the F-250 was “No obstruction! No obstruction!”

  3. "Informed later that the paper had obtained a contradictory police report, ICE tried a different tactic.

    The incident was a “fender bender not vehicle crash,” ICE spokesperson Adelina Pruneda told the paper, one that “resulted in minor damage to both vehicles.”

    That was also at odds with the police report, which called the damage to the van “disabling,” and said it was towed from the scene."

    A third spokesperson for ICE, who refused to provide a name, later released this statement:

    “GOD! Ihateyousomuchandyourstupidquestionaskingfaceswhydon’tyoujustdiealreadyyouuglystupidbitches?”

  4. What’s truly astonishing is that the ICE people are so stupid, it never occurred to them that there would be a police report about this, readily obtainable.

    It’s like Collins’ insider trading. “Surely they’ll never be able to tell who I phoned, and when.”

    These people are all amazingly bad at covering their tracks. And that’s a good thing.

  5. Avatar for daled daled says:

    FOR. THE. WIN!!!

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