A person died Sunday after barreling through an inspection station at a Border Patrol highway checkpoint in Texas, bailing out of the car, running across the median and getting struck by a vehicle headed the other way on the interstate, Homeland Security officials said.
The checkpoint on Interstate 35 north of Laredo is the most active anywhere along the southwestern border, serving as a key chokepoint for illegal traffic from Laredo north toward San Antonio, Houston and Dallas.
Agents at the checkpoint, which interdicts northbound traffic, regularly snag truckloads of illegal immigrants looking to make their way deeper into the country.
The Border Patrol didn’t release many details about Sunday night’s incident, but said the driver refused to stop for a secondary inspection.
At highway checkpoints, drivers are first questioned by an agent about citizenship and often given a once-over by a canine team. If the dog alerts to the vehicle, or if the agent isn’t satisfied with the answers, the vehicle is directed to pull up to a secondary inspection, where the identity of all occupants can be fully verified.
Vehicles will sometimes blow through the secondary checkpoint to elude agents, who usually give chase.
It’s not clear what triggered the secondary inspection demand in Sunday’s incident.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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