After losing control of his SUV and slamming into a bus stop throng in Brownsville, Texas, a motorist was charged with eight manslaughters and 10 aggravated assaults with a dangerous weapon.
Six individuals were killed and 12 badly injured outside a municipal overnight shelter. Despite pending laboratory findings, George Alvarez, the driver, may have been inebriated. Alvarez was chanting anti-immigrant slurs when the tragedy occurred, and authorities are examining if it was deliberate.
Venezuelan migrants at the refuge were most injured and murdered. The tragedy shook the community, which has historically been a hub for US-Mexico border migration, and caused locals and migrants to grieve. “It’s something the city of Brownsville had never experienced,” said shelter director Victor Maldonado.
The incident occurred days before Title 42, a Covid-era policy that allows migrants to be expelled, expires and as immigration authorities face “extremely challenging” conditions along the Mexican border, according to US homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
