Agent rescues immigrants moments before highway crash

RACHAL - U.S. Border Patrol agent Adam Ruiz had to act fast as the van full of undocumented immigrants veered into the path of a hurtling 18-wheeler.

Should he pursue the vehicle's driver, who bailed out on the shoulder of U.S. 281 and left the van's gear in drive? Or chase down the van and its occupants as they edged closer and closer into oncoming traffic?

In seconds, Ruiz sprang into action. The eight-year agency veteran bolted toward the moving vehicle, leaped through the passenger side door and steered the vehicle to safety.

His quick thinking and fast action may have saved the lives of the nine Mexican nationals later found sitting the back of the van without any type of safety restraints, local Border Patrol spokesman Daniel A. Doty said.

"This happens more than people know," Doty said. "Our first concern is for the safety of the people involved."

But as daring as the March 11 rescue near Rachal sounds, it's a situation border agents are encountering more often as they step up efforts to crack down on human smugglers.

Ruiz, a supervisory agent stationed in McAllen, declined interview requests about the rescue. But its details emerged Monday in court documents filed against the van's driver, 30-year-old Ramiro Regalado Garcia.

Immigrant smugglers, or coyotes, are increasingly putting their passengers' lives in danger in efforts to avoid arrest, Doty said. Some have even left still-moving vehicles to hurtle into trees, fences and highway barriers.

In a similar case earlier this year, 22-year-old accused smuggler Jose Padilla lost an ear as he tried to jump out of a moving vehicle during a police pursuit in La Joya. The six Honduran and Salvadoran immigrants police say he was carrying managed to escape the eventual crash without major injury.

"At one time several years ago, people would just park the car and start running," Doty said. "Now that we've increased our manpower, they're starting to adopt new strategies to get away."

But Border Patrol agents have also adjusted their tactics to address these dangerous situations, he said. Now, one group of agents focuses on apprehending fleeing drivers while another group works to ensure the safety of his immigrant cargo.

Operating under new training strategies, Ruiz ran after the endangered Mexican nationals while Border Patrol helicopters kept tabs on a fleeing Regalado. Agents apprehended him yards from where his van was eventually stopped.

On Monday, Regalado pleaded guilty to human smuggling charges and remains in federal custody pending a sentencing hearing scheduled for June 9.

But thanks to some fast thinking from Ruiz, the coyote's nine passengers were all able to return to Mexico safely.

"He is an exceptional agent," Doty said. "But he doesn't like to take the spotlight for something any other agent would have done in that situation."