Seven people were killed and nearly ten others injured on Sunday morning when a car drove into a group of people waiting at a bus stop in Brownsville, Texas, outside a migrant aid center. Witnesses reported that the driver had yelled insults at the group before accelerating, but police are treating the incident as an accident for now.
The driver, who was also taken to the hospital, has been charged with reckless driving, and authorities have launched an investigation into whether the crash was intentional. The victims were among a group of about 25 people waiting at the bus stop, all of whom were Venezuelan, according to the executive director of the homeless shelter across the street. Some of the victims were migrants, but police could not confirm whether all of them were.
The incident occurred as authorities are preparing for the lifting of a Donald Trump-era federal policy that allows border patrol officers to deport or turn away migrants without accepting their asylum applications. The policy, known as Title 42, is set to expire on Thursday, and authorities fear a spike in undocumented migrants entering the United States. The incident in Texas comes one day after a shooter killed at least eight people at a shopping mall in the state.
