Cops name Honduras migrant Luiz Mencias-Escobar as driver who caused head-on crash that left innocent Georgia couple dead – as it’s revealed he was caught at Eagle Pass in 2019 but let go and involved in ANOTHER failed human smuggling attempt

The teenage Honduran migrant who caused a head-on collision earlier this month that killed seven others has been photographed and identified as a passenger in a failed human smuggling attempt.

Records show that Luiz Alfredo Mencias-Escobar is from Honduras and rode into Eagle Pass, Texas in April 2019. He was released with a notice to appear in court, where a judge ordered his removal from the country.

In April this year, the young man was apprehended in Zavala County, where he was a passenger in a failed attempt to smuggle people across the border.

Sheriff’s deputies turned him over to Border Patrol, and despite his permanent removal order, he was turned over to Department of Health and Human Services officials and returned to his mother’s home in Houston.

Last week, Mencias-Escobar was killed in a head-on collision that killed seven other people after he crashed on a busy highway while fleeing police.

The Georgian couple Jose and Isabel Lerma were killed instantly in the crash on November 8

Law enforcement’s previous handling of the now-deceased migrants is consistent with the Biden administration’s 2021 memo outlining arrest and removal priorities for Department of Homeland Security officials.

The memo from DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas states that undocumented immigrants who are not considered a “threat” and who entered the country illegally before November 2020 will not be prioritized for removal.

The Nov. 8 crash occurred along U.S. Highway 57 near Batesville, Texas, about 50 miles from the border. Georgian couple Jose and Isabel Lerma were in the front seat of an SUV heading to Mexico when they were hit by the suspected smuggler’s vehicle.

The other deaths were illegal migrants smuggled into the country.

A GoFundMe launched by the college-aged couple’s children has so far raised $14,000 for funeral costs.

“I know that one day I will see her in heaven and it is God’s grace for my father,” said their son Jairo Lerma WXIA. “They left together.”

The son also wondered why the police were involved in the high-speed chase for the suspect.

“Why would you chase someone at such a high speed?” he said. ‘There are different ways and approaches when it comes to catching people. We have a lot of technology, but this can be avoided.”

Mencias-Escobar’s car, police said, had driven away from local officers at a high rate of speed just before the crash – which happened when the driver tried to pass an 18-wheeler in a no-passing zone. All those involved died, police revealed in a series of statements.

The crash comes as the Biden administration continues to grapple with the flow of migrants from South and Central America — as 2.47 million people were stopped at the border in fiscal year 2023, up from the previous record of 2, 4 million the year before.

Eight people died last week after a crash on a highway in Batesville, Texas

The driver of the car had eluded arrest at the time of the fatal accident

The crash caused a large and fiery explosion that burned the busy highway for a while before being extinguished

“The driver in a Honda passenger car from Houston, suspected of human smuggling, eluded Zavala COSO as the driver passed an 18-wheeler in a no-passing zone,” a law enforcement official said after the crash.

“The driver struck a Chevy SUV head-on, causing the vehicle to catch fire and killing the Georgia driver and passenger.

“As a result, five passengers were killed, including the suspected smuggler of the Honda.

The incident – ​​one of several similar crashes this year – further underlines the historic number of people moving north in search of a new life in the US, often at the expense of US citizens in places like Texas, as well as havens like New York. .

It also highlights the dangers associated with the number of travelers crossing not only US borders, but also the borders of other countries – as most migrants come from Venezuela, which is currently in the midst of its own political crisis, along with a economic crisis. also a.

This year alone, the number of crossings of the Darien Gap – a stretch of treacherous jungle connecting Central America to the south on the Panama-Colombia border – shot up to an estimated 500,000, up from about 400,000 the year before.

The incident further underscores the historic number of people moving north in search of a new life in the U.S., often at the expense of U.S. citizens in places like Texas.

The crisis is also being felt further north in places like Chicago (pictured), where a group of migrants were pictured leaving a bus near a Greyhound station after being transported from Texas.

It also highlights the dangers associated with the number of travelers crossing not only U.S. borders, but also the borders of other countries – as most migrants come from Venezuela. Migrants from South America have arrived here in Costa Rica over the past month.

The US is also experiencing a major increase in arrivals via a dangerous route through Panama’s Darién Gap jungle – a stretch of jungle that connects Central America to the south. Pictured: A migrant carrying a child as they traverse the route during their journey to the US in July

Previously, annual crossings for that route were pegged at 200,000 or fewer, shining a light on the staggering increase in migration felt in the United States in recent years.

In August, U.S. Border Patrol made 181,509 apprehensions at the Mexican border, a 37 percent increase from July, but little change from August 2022 and well below a high of more than 220,000 in December, according to figures released Friday .

The decline in refugee numbers was reversed after new asylum restrictions were introduced in May. This comes after years of steadily rising migration levels due to economic crises and social unrest in many of the countries where people are fleeing.

Previously, only dozens of migrants from Central American countries passed through Irapuato by train every day, said Marta Ponce, a 73-year-old woman who has been helping those traveling on the railway lines through her town for more than a decade.

Now that number regularly reaches the thousands.