ACLU To Border Patrol “Release Video From Paisano Accident”

Earlier this summer a deadly accident reportedly involving a number of Border Patrol vehicles ended in the deaths of seven people. The accident remains under investigation but there is a new entity that wants to look into the incident. The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas wants to see video and other investigative materials of the accident.

In the early morning hours of June 25, an 18 year old male picked up some people who had crossed the border at Sunland Park and the Border Patrol gave chase. When they got to the sharp turn near the Union Plaza neighborhood, the vehicle, which had ten people in it, crashed into a parked 18 wheeler. Seven people were killed and three others were injured in the accident, and the ACLU says these kinds of chases and crashes happen all the time. They also say that "For too long, the Border Patrol has operated in the shadows and with impunity," and that the public and the families of the people who were killed in this accident deserve an independent investigation.

There hasn't been a lot of information released by any law enforcement agency investigating the June 25th accident. One of the only details that we've gotten is that "3 of the 10 occupants in the car were illegal aliens (2 Mexico; 1 Guatemala)."

Predictably, after that information was released there was a lot of social media traffic saying that the driver shouldn't have picked up illegal immigrants and that he shouldn't have run from the Border Patrol. While that is true, it's also true that we as taxpayers who fund law enforcement departments have the right to know what chase protocol is. This wasn't the first time an accident has taken place at that location and there are witnesses who say BP agents didn't back off the chase as they said they did. Seven people died. We need to know why.