Two migrants were caught on police dashcam leading Texas troopers on a wild, high-speed car chase in the middle of the night, reaching speeds of up to 100 mph.
The heartbreaking footage shows Texas Department of Public Safety officers following the pair along a straight stretch of road along RM-334 in Kinney County, close to the Mexican border near Del Rio in southwest Texas.
The police can be heard on the radio communicating with the control room: “They won’t stop!” before saying the vehicle was traveling at speeds in excess of 100 mph.
The migrants appear to show no signs of slowing down in their Toyota Camry as the pair try to evade law enforcement before their car suddenly bursts into flames.
Two migrants led Texas troopers on a high-speed chase, reaching speeds of up to 100 mph (160 km/h) near the Mexican border in southwest Texas
The heartbreaking dashcam footage captured the migrants evading law enforcement on RM-334 in Kinney County
Two men have been arrested and charged with evading arrest and human trafficking
Their car is eventually forced onto the shoulder of the road before the pair jumped and tried to run towards it.
But officers were quickly on their heels and the suspects were heard yelling in both Spanish and English, ordering the suspects to get on the ground and threatening them at gunpoint.
Two other passengers who had been in the back of the car, both of whom were also illegal immigrants but human smugglers, managed to race into the darkness and evade the clutches of law enforcement.
The driver, who was eventually forced to stop after his car caught fire, was later identified as Eduardo Jose Flores, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela living in Austin.
The car only came to a stop after it caught fire, forcing the driver to stop on the shoulder
Two people who had been smuggled into the back of the car ran towards it and ran into the darkness
The driver and his passenger were caught by police and forced to lie on the ground
The driver was identified as Eduardo Jose Flores, left, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela. That’s right, Luis Alejandro Basabe, an illegal immigrant, also from Venezuela, was a passenger in the car
Flores’ passenger was identified as Luis Alejandro Basabe, also an illegal immigrant from Venezuela living in Austin, Texas.
The pair tried to evade arrest when they encountered the bushes, but the officers were too fast for them and managed to get them to the ground at gunpoint.
Both have since been charged with evading arrest and human trafficking.
“The driver and passenger, both illegal immigrants from Venezuela, were arrested. The illegal immigrants who were smuggled fled on foot and were not located,” police said in a statement.
Texas State Troopers walk to a fence after migrants broke through razor wire to enter the US on Thursday
A migrant checks her bag after members of the Texas National Guard burned clothing used by migrants to break through barbed wire and a fence to enter the U.S. and surrender
Such encounters are becoming increasingly common. On Thursday, hundreds of migrants broke through barbed wire at the wall in El Paso, Texas, overpowering border agents who had tried to push them away.
“Hundreds of migrants were pushed south of the Concertina Wire by the Texas National Guard in the middle of the night,” the border snapper explained.
“Hours later, they breached the concertina again and rushed to the border wall in El Paso, Texas.”
The migrants were already in the US because they had already crossed the international border, a few hundred meters south of the border wall.
Migrants breach the infrastructure set up by the Texas National Guard on the Rio Grande in El Paso, Texas on March 21, 2024
Migrants stand on infrastructure breached by migrants on the Rio Grande in El Paso, Texas on March 21, 2024
Male migrants are escorted south behind a barrier by the Texas National Guard on the Rio Grande in El Paso, Texas on March 21, 2024
A migrant sits on a fence after a group of migrants fight their way through barbed wire and break through a fence
Many of these asylum seekers had chosen not to surrender immediately because they were in limbo due to a Texas law SB4.
The controversial law authorizes state and local police in the Lone Star State to arrest illegal immigrants, a right reserved only for federal officials such as the U.S. Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The law, which has been banned several times by federal courts in recent days, was then allowed to take effect for a few hours on Tuesday before being blocked again on Tuesday evening.
The legal whiplash left many migrants unsure what would happen to them if they surrendered to Border Patrol.
The tension had been building for much of the past week as the camp grew.
Known as ‘Gate 36’, this is a popular spot for migrants seeking asylum in El Paso, Texas. Migrants regularly cross this area, seeking out border guards and surrendering to U.S. authorities
Migrants camp along concertina wire on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande on the day the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals hears oral arguments on Texas’ motion to lift a block on the SB4 immigration law that would allow state officials arrest migrants suspected of being in the country illegally
Hundreds camped in the no man’s land between the Rio Grande, north of the river that divides the US and Mexico. The river is the international border, not the border wall.
On Wednesday evening, the Texas National Guard rounded up hundreds of migrants and forced them south of the razor wire, which remains in the US.
On Thursday morning, the migrants climbed over the fence in coordination and ran to the border wall to presumably turn themselves in.