McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — Two men have been arrested in connection with the deaths of two migrants who were in a packed SUV that plunged into a flooded canal on Friday in the Rio Grande Valley.
Jose Alexis Baeze-Combaluzier, a Mexican national, told Border Patrol he was driving the black Ford Explorer the led agents on a chase through flooded roads before crashing into a canal on Friday morning near border town of Elsa, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Baeze-Combaluzier, 26, is charged with transporting people in the country illegally with a vehicle resulting in death, according to a redacted version of the complaint obtained Tuesday by Border Report.
Another man, Vicente Garcia Jr., 18, of Roma, Texas, has also been arrested and is charged with alien smuggling resulting in two deaths, U.S. Attorney Nicholas Ganjei said Tuesday.
Both men have federal court hearings before U.S. Magistrate J. Scott Hacker on Wednesday in McAllen.
Baeze-Combaluzier was among five people rescued by Border Patrol agents from the swollen canal on Friday morning after historic flooding struck the Rio Grande Valley border region starting Thursday.
A 14-year-old boy from Guatemala and an adult woman identified as Elena Catarina Morales-Chan died in the crash, according to the complaint.
The Texas Department of Public Safety posted on social media video of the rescues that show an emergency worker riding the skids of a helicopter operated by the agency's Aircraft Operations Division (AOD) as it dips near the canal. He then loops safety devices on two stranded men hoists them into the air.
"AOD working Operation Lone Star in Hidalgo Co. rescued a human smuggler -- an illegal immigrant from Mexico -- who crashed into a flooded canal while attempting to smuggle several other illegal immigrants to a stash house in the Rio Grande Valley. Four other illegal immigrants were also rescued from the water, along with two deceased individuals. DPS’ State Dive Team also assisted with recovering the suspect’s vehicle from the canal," Texas DPS posted on X.
A Border Patrol spokeswoman told Border Report that agents with the BORSTAR unit — Border Patrol Search, Trauma and Rescue unit — also assisted in the rescues.
According to the criminal complaint, Baeze-Combaluzier was the driver of the Ford Explorer that Border Patrol agents had observed parking next to another vehicle at 8:45 a.m. on Friday "where a body swap of suspected illegal aliens was conducted."
Agents said the SUV then drove north to Edinburg and then turned east toward Elsa and "stopped at a low spot in a flooded road."
"Agents, wearing their Border Patrol vest with identifiers, approached the vehicle and announced themselves as Border Patrol agents," the complaint says. But as they approached, "the vehicle then accelerated and drove through the flooded area and continued south. Agents then drove south approximately half a mile, and discovered the vehicle had driven into the canal."
Border Patrol "agents immediately jumped into the canal," according to the complaint.
Some areas of the region received over 20 inches of rain in just a few hours. Canals and roadways were flooded and there was a flood warning.
Baeze-Combaluzier told agents he was supposed to locate a house to drop the group of migrants but he became lost in the flooded area.
The Weslaco Fire Department and DPS located Morales-Chan's body floating farther east in the canal, where she was pronounced dead sometime later, the complaint says.
The body of the 14-year-old, identified in the complaint by the initials J.E.T.M., was discovered Saturday trapped in the SUV. His mother, Juana Veronica Macario-Chan, of Guatemala, was rescued in the crash and told agents that her friend, Morales-Chan, and her son were missing after the accident.
Macario-Chan told agents that she crossed into the United States with her two sons, including a 13-year-old who also survived the crash. She said they were transported to a stash house after crossing the Rio Grande.
She says they were told "to lay down in the back and hide" in the SUV. She said Baeza-Combaluzier "began driving erratically and crashed into the canal. Macario-Chan stated she and her 13-year-old son made it out of the vehicle, but she never saw her 14-year-old son, J.E.T.M., come out of the water. Macario-Chan stated Morales-Chan drowned and saw her body floating in the canal," according to the complaint.
Baeza-Combaluzier told agents he crossed illegally into the United States from Mexico recently and that "he was at a stash house with a young man (name redacted) who recruited him to be a driver."
Baeza-Combaluzier is being held without bond.
If convicted, Baeza-Combaluzier and Garcia could up life in prison or the possibility of a death sentence, as well as a $250,000 maximum fine, according to Ganjei.
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at [email protected].