San Antonio Mayor Nirenberg of southern Texas, USA, said on the evening of the 27th that law enforcement officers found 46 immigrants dead in a large truck that day, and 16 others were rescued from the vehicle and sent to the hospital. Please see the report sent back by the Xinhua News Agency reporter -
"A terrible human tragedy"
Nirenberg said at the press conference, "This is completely a terrible human tragedy."
According to San Antonio police and fire officials, on the evening of the 27th, a man spotted the car at an intersection. He heard calls for help coming from inside the car and immediately called the police. After the rescuers arrived at the scene, they found that many people were dead in the carriage. There was no water in the carriage, the air conditioning was not turned on, and the survivors had high body temperatures and could not even get out of the car on their own. The deceased were all adults, and the immigrants sent to the hospital for treatment included four children. Their identities and nationalities are currently unclear.
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Data from the US Weather Bureau shows that the temperature in San Antonio was as high as 38 degrees Celsius on the 27th. US media reported that in a trailer packed with people, the actual temperature may be much higher.
A spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said that San Antonio police believe the incident is "suspected of human smuggling " and are currently leading the investigation.
Texas is located in the southern United States, bordering Mexico . In July 2017, a truck carrying 39 immigrants was found in the parking lot of a Walmart in San Antonio with no water or air conditioning. Ten of them died.
"American-style blame-shifting" after the tragedy
The United States is in the mid-term election year, and the immigration issue has recently become a bargaining chip between the two parties. On the night of the "immigration truck" tragedy, Texas Republican Governor Abbott immediately posted a "blame-shifting" post on social media, criticizing the border policies adopted by Democratic President Biden, saying "these (immigrants) The deaths were caused by Biden."
Some commentators in the United States said that the political battle between the two parties has turned the border into an "expensive campaign prop" and illegal immigrants into "political pawns."
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According to Mexican media reports, tens of thousands of immigrants from Latin American countries set off from southern Mexico to the United States in early June.
Latin America has not only been politically and economically constrained by the United States for a long time, but has also been deeply affected by the spillover effects of gun violence, drug proliferation and other problems in the United States. This is also a deep-seated reason for the flow of immigrants heading north. However, the U.S. government’s various “blame-shifting” actions have dissatisfied Mexico and other countries. Mexico has criticized many times recently that the United States has promised to allocate funds to solve the problem of immigration through Mexico since the previous administration, but it has not been fulfilled in the past few years.
Marvin Asik, the director of a Mexican immigrant shelter, said in an exclusive interview with a reporter from Xinhua News Agency that the " Summit of the Americas" held not long ago in the United States was not prepared to solve the problem through dialogue and did not propose any policies or measures. Address existing challenges”.
The United States' response to immigration issues has been frequently scandalized.
Mexican Foreign Minister Ebrard said on social media that day that the incident was a "tragedy" and expressed his condolences to the families of the victims. Staff from the Mexican Consulate in the United States have rushed to the scene, but the nationality of the victims has not yet been confirmed.
In addition to the immigrant tragedies that occurred on the way north, the US government's violent law enforcement, extended detention , and abuse of immigrants have long existed, causing frequent scandals and causing controversy.
This is a file photo of migrants from Central American countries crossing the Bravo River trying to enter the United States from Mexico, taken on the Mexican border city of Juarez on March 9. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Penado)
Data shows that in 2021, U.S. law enforcement agencies arrested approximately 1.7 million illegal immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, including 145,000 children. The "flesh separation" policy enforced by the previous U.S. government resulted in more than 2,800 immigrant children being separated from their parents. The internal management of the detention facilities is chaotic and human rights violations occur frequently. In recent years, of the 266,000 immigrant children detained in the United States, 25,000 were detained for more than 100 days. In September last year, the US border police on horseback violently drove away Haitian refugees with whips, which was widely condemned.
Reporter: Xu Jianmei
Participating reporters: Sun Ding, Wu Hao, Zhu Yubo
Editor: Wang Yujue
Source: Xinhua News Agency
