'I didn't want to be here when it happened again'
Just like this religious cloth, draped over the barbed-wire fence that borders the memorial, Garcia is torn – emotionally. After the tragedy, he sought four months of counseling.
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Alone, Eloy Garcia rummaged behind the counter. Oddly, few customers entered the store this night.
At 12:30 a.m. May 14, 2003, Garcia replaced the usual traffic, fuel-ups and bustle with busy work.
Garcia, 61 then, worked at what was Chubby’s, a truck stop on Fleming Prairie Road.
Working alone worried him. He locked the store’s back door.
During the six years he worked there, Garcia saw the crime funneled from Mexico through Victoria.
He saw prostitutes, drug dealers and weapons.
He listened to smugglers talk about the illegal immigrants hidden inside the trucks parked outside..
The truck stop has windows in front and back, but not on the building’s north side. He couldn’t see Fleming Prairie Road.
Garcia couldn’t see the tragedy unfold just 60 feet from him.
Tyrone Williams parked a tractor-trailer, filled with at least 73 illegal immigrants, beside the store.
Human smugglers paid Williams, a New York-based truck driver, to drive the immigrants from Harlingen to Houston. Smugglers packed the immigrants into the suffocating trailer.
Despite screams and banging from inside, Williams didn’t stop for four hours – until he reached Victoria.
Illegal immigrants were dead and dying. The trailer heated to 170 degrees Fahrenheit and sealed them from air.
Immigrants who were alive and could talk begged for water.
At 1:30 a.m., Williams and Fatima Holloway, the truck driver’s friend and a front-seat passenger, walked into the store to buy water.
They didn’t rush or seem panicked, Garcia said.
“They acted normally. He returned two more times,” Garcia said. “Each time he purchased 12 to 18 bottles of water. He bought the rack.”
Holloway said, “Are there snakes out there?”
“Oh, yeah,” Garcia told her. “There are snakes, alligators, wild hogs.”
Williams and Holloway left the store, unhitched the tractor from the trailer and drove to Houston.
Twenty-five minutes after they left the store, immigrant Nelson Hernandez, covered in sweat, stormed inside.
“He was delirious,” Garcia said. “He said some El Salvadorans were trying to kill him.”
Hernandez collapsed to his knees and cried.
Shocked, Garcia locked each of the store’s doors and called 911. Then he grabbed the jacket clerks wear into the cooler and wrapped Hernandez in it.
Shortly after 2 a.m., a deputy drove slowly into the parking lot. By 2:20 a.m., ambulances, volunteers, deputies and fire engines swarmed the road.
Garcia stayed inside for an hour. Then, he walked outside.
“I saw the bodies on the trailer floor and the feet,” he said. He returned to the store, refusing to allow customers inside.
When the media arrived at 7 a.m., reporters asked to talk to the clerk who sold Williams water.
“I told them, ‘He went home. They sent him home. He couldn’t stand it so they sent him home and brought me in.’”
Garcia went home at 8 a.m. He couldn’t sleep. He quit after another year.
“The drivers, the smugglers, would come in to use the restroom, and to buy snacks and drinks regularly,” Garcia said. “I didn’t want to be there when it happened again. It will happen.”
A boy’s ghost visits Garcia?
Garcia was born in Brownsville, a South Texas city that borders the Rio Grande River and Mexico. He grew up during a time in which U.S. immigration laws were growing stricter.
He’d walk as a child to the river to fish and shoot his BB gun. He saw illegal immigrants hide and run.
His mother answered late-night knocks on the family’s door. Immigrants, stripped by the river of their clothes, needed help.
The mother offered clothes but not a bed. She pointed to the city’s tallest building, the nearby jail.
“They’ll give you a place to stay,” she’d joke.
Garcia thought little about immigration until May 2003. Until then, he remained distanced from the border.
The Navy stationed him in Maryland. He later worked in Utah and Alaska as a weather technician.
He moved to Victoria in 1978 and worked at the weather station until it closed in 1999.
“I meant to retire. I did for two months, but I’m a workaholic,” he said.
Bored, he began to work part time as a security guard and later at Chubby’s.
Garcia, a 66-year-old Catholic, has three grown children.
He hangs a cross above his apartment’s front door and a tapestry of Jesus near the dining room table.
He loves movies and Frank Sinatra, the remote-controlled helicopter he asked for this Father’s Day and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
For 40 years, he’s kept a team beer, a can of Iron City Beer, chilled in his fridge.
He perched three stuffed animals – three black cats – on the back of his couch. He calls the cats his children’s mascots. He divorced in 1990.
His grandson was 5 at the time of the tragedy – the same age as Marco Antonio Villasenor, the youngest to die inside the trailer.
After the tragedy, the boy’s ghost visited Garcia at work, he said.
He didn’t know the boy’s name then, so he called the ghost “Joselito.”
Joselito often turned fuel pumps 11 and 12 on, Garcia said. The boy’s ghost stood by him at the counter and stepped on the ice machine’s pedals – dispelling cold chunks. The ghost turned bathroom faucets on.
Joselito always played when the store and parking lot were empty, Garcia said.
“I’d say, ‘Joselito, go outside and play.’ The boy likes to roam the store. He was just being mischievous. He’s got no place to go,” Garcia said.
Other immigrants’ spirits roam the grounds, too, he said.
“They’re good spirits. Their souls went to heaven, but their spirits are out there wandering around. Just wandering around.”
Garcia senses the immigrants’ minds were tormented when they died.
Hurricane Claudette toppled the truck stop’s sign in 2003. But the tragedy’s makeshift memorial escaped unscathed, he said.
This small stretch of water bottles and ribbons, stuffed animals and keepsakes, remained intact, even though debris blew all around it.
“That’s God’s power,” Garcia said. “He protects and he protected that.”
Garcia’s family is protective of him. His daughter didn’t want him retelling this story. Garcia said his daughter wants him to again seek counseling.
“The world needs to know what happened as much as possible,” Garcia said. “I understand that a lot of people want this buried because it happened. But what they don’t want to address is immigration. And that’s why this is being done – to make people aware and maybe we can do something about it.”
Revisiting the memory
After quitting his job at Chubby’s a year after the tragedy, Garcia refused to visit the site. He followed news coverage of the trials, though.
He’s glad Williams, the truck driver, was sentenced to life in prison. Garcia testified against him.
But he tried to distance himself from the scene.
After the tragedy, he sought four months of counseling. If he knew sooner the immigrants were outside the store, he could have delivered water and perhaps saved a few, he fears.
“When I was talking to the counselor in one of those sessions, she said, ‘You’re not the only one. There are a lot of responders out there who need help with what they saw,’ ” Garcia said. “The counselor told me, ‘What you went through out there is equal to battlefield conditions.’”
After Garcia approached the Advocate to tell his story, he visited the site alone to prepare for the interviews.
“I’m glad I went by myself. I was just frozen. I couldn’t move. I thought about them. Did you know that is holy ground? I’m not going to stand on holy ground.”
He revisited the site one more time before traveling there with three journalists. Once there, he stepped outside a white van and stood 30 feet from the memorial.
He removed his ball cap. His eyes watered. He grasped his hands and stared.
“This incident ... it got too much. I keep remembering what was out here,” he said.
He refused to walk to the memorial. Instead, he walked to its side of the road by moving in a long, looping arc. He wouldn’t near it.
He stared.
“That you see so much death in one place, and they were innocent. They didn’t deserve it,” he said.
Then he stopped, covered his eyes with his bent, shaking fingers. He turned and walked and walked – 50 feet away.
He stood on the side of the road and cried, his head in his hands.
After a few moments, he dropped his hands and turned again to face the tragedy. Slowly, he walked toward it.
“A priest blessed this site,” he said. “I’ll come and pay respects. But I don’t step on it. I’m not worthy of it.”
Gabe Semenza is the Public Service Editor for the Advocate. Contact him at 361-580-6519 or gsemenza@vicad.com, or comment on this story at www.VictoriaAdvocate.com/fatalfunnel.
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Raggy, TACO... Good hatchet man..
July 29, 2008 at 11:51 p.m.After reading the interview from the man in the store, it left me disgusted. He is a coward. He had heard from drivers all the time that coyotes were carrying illegals back anf forth and he never reported his store as a major traffic stop. Gee I WONDER WHY? Ask him why he supported the transportation of illegal aliens on a daily basis and never ever told law enforcement!!!!!
Then he talks about locking door, hiding, lying, etc. We are suppose to admire him and then have pity because he could no longer work?
Sorry he definitely got what he deserved. He has been part of the overland trail of illegals that should be stopped. He is just as guilty as the drivers and coyotes. His soul should never rest.
I am sick and tired of being expected to have pity, empathy, etc. for any person who is coming into our country illegally and then expecting my tax money to pay for the results of their unprotected sex, tuberculosis and other diseases, anchor babies in school, food stamps, sanctuary cities,filling up our hospitals and not paying, robbing and stealing.
Remember the lines from history afar. Shoot'em all and let God figure it out... My believe is keep em all out, and let their governments figure it out.
July 29, 2008 at 8:27 a.m.Oh sí, estoy seguro que usted habla español fluido. ¡Hay una diferencia grande en Tex-Mex y mexicano, amigo! ¡Por favor!
July 29, 2008 at 2:13 a.m.All of you folks who take the term Illegal Alien and paint a color on it, get back in your Prayer Closet and examine yourself.
The issue of Illegal Aliens in the United States of America has nothing what so ever to do with a skin color. Granted most of our Illegal Aliens do come from Mexico.
The only issue I or the rest of us who do not state this issue in Politically Correct terms has, is the Illegal Alien part. I dont know these folks but if they are like me are proud of our Tex-Mex style and flare. I enjoy visits to Mexico and the warmth of the people there. Hell, I like a lot of these guys speak the language. Grew up that way.
So, if you can for what might be the first time in your life, stick to the issue at hand, Illegal Aliens.
This has to stop. We must resolve this issue. Amnesty is not the answer. Spreading the fear that our economy will fall without them is the same sort of backwards thinking of the slave owners who said the economy would fall without slaves. Get a grip!!!
The screwed up governments in the countries they are fleeing are the cause of their plight. The culture, traditions, beliefs and sometimes pure laziness of a people allow these forms of government to stay in power.
July 28, 2008 at 11:50 p.m.America cannot take them in; they must fix their own country.
I was shocked to read some of the comment posted by people on here.
July 28, 2008 at 8:56 p.m.First of all, I can guarantee if the people that died in the trailer were white, we would hear about it just as much as we are now, probably even more. And about Hispanics and other people of color getting off on crimes, whoever thinks that is completely ignorant of the truth. All we see in the newspaper and on the news is about people who aren't white getting arrested and receiving jail time for their crimes, no matter how small they are. It's the white people who get a slap on the wrist and can walk away from anything. All they need is a good lawyer who can make up a good enough excuse for their client and money to pay them in return. And who could blame the immigrants for wanting to come to America? Live a day in their shoes and you too would do anything possible to live a better life elsewhere. So in my opinion, one shouldn't judge others because of their color and background if you have no idea what they go through everyday of their lives. How about you try living without food, water, clothing, shelter and getting barely paid anything for hard work. I bet you couldn't. We complain when we go to a fast-food place and our order isn't right. Can you imagine not choosing what you want for every meal? Or having to find your food in the dumpster? Or telling your infant child there will be no food for dinner tonight? This is just a nightmare to most people, but some it is reality. A reality that is so hard to overcome.
Hopefully this will make you realize the harsh lives other people live and how all we can do is criticize someone for wanting a better life instead of sympathizing with them. Sorry everyone in the world couldn't be as fortunate as you are.
Thanks to all for an interesting discussion regarding our latest installment of "Fatal Funnel."
We've created a discussion forum specifically for the purpose of capturing your thoughts about illegal immigration. Please click here to add your thoughts on the series.
We also have created another discussion forum to serve as a place to offer tributes to the first responders to and victims of this tragedy. Click here to leave your tributes.
July 28, 2008 at 12:40 p.m.I for one am sick and tired of hearing about this incident. The illegals made a choice. Why is it that no matter what these people decide to do with their lives and the lives of their children, it's always someone else's fault? If they let their kids walk into a lion's den, it's someone else's fault. If it were white American men, women and children who expired in the back of that trailer, you would not hear another word about it and everyone would be saying "they made the choice to get into that trailer." But it seems that illegals are not responsible for any of their actions, including cop killing, child rape and molestation, identity theft, tax evasion, welfare fraud, etc., etc., but I guess all of that is our fault, too!!
July 28, 2008 at 12:04 p.m.Patriot simply stated a fact, nothing cold or heartless about it.
When a person makes a choice to violate a Sovereign Nations Laws by sneaking into that Nation Illegally, using a means as resulted in the deaths of these Illegal Aliens, that person bears the responsibility for their own death, if that event occurs.
If these Illegal Aliens did not choose to violate the Laws of The United States of America, they would not have died in a trailer cooking in the sun. Those Illegal Aliens under age who died cooking in that trailer, that decision was made for them by their Loving Parents.
Those Illegal Aliens made a very bad choice. That choice, not only did they make willfully, they paid for with full knowledge they were violating the Laws of the United States of America and a choice that could cost them their lives.
July 27, 2008 at 11:37 p.m.PATRIOT! I have a question for you. What nationality are you? I love your nickname. How can you be a "Patriot" and say that it is OK for people coming illegally into this country to DIE? This country was settled by people of ALL nationalities. I realize that the immigration issue is really a problem but you sound like you would just a soon have a magic button that as soon as they crossed the Rio Grande you would push your little button and they would DIE. I never heard of any situation like that when yours or my ancestors came here. Instead of hinting about dying, talk about reform or something positive. I agree very much with the person who stated the stats on the population in LA it's true and it's true here as well. It costs you, me, and every other taxpayer a small fortune. I work hard to support my family and times are tough. It really irritates me to see an illegal on government assistance knowing that I am probably worse off financially. I'm driving an old beat up van and they get into brand new vehicle or a darn sight newer than mine. I agree that it's not right for the illegals to come into the US without permission but to insinuate that death is an OK outcome of the attempt is just plain WRONG.
July 27, 2008 at 9:07 p.m.PS Gabe you did a wonderful job on the article. It definitely raised some eyebrows to the problem. Hopefully some solutions may come out of it as well.
Maybe this event will be a lesson to other illegal criminals that break the law and sneak into the United States. If they would have followed legal channels, they would still be alive. DO NOT TRY TO SNEAK INTO THE UNITED STATES ILLEGALLY. YOU MIGHT END UP DEAD IN THE PROCESS.
July 27, 2008 at 8:32 p.m.I have to say this.. its a Great Piece.. It surely brings you to your knees.. and makes me realize of all the things I should be grateful for..and sometimes I wonder why people just can't get along .. but, this piece leaves me with a big lump in my throat....I thinks its called Humblism..and boy does it humble you.. Gabe I have never met you .. but I have read some your pieces and .. you have done an Outstanding job on this one.. The people across the border.. they are our neighbors.. I dont know about you but .. I help my neighbors when they are in need..God Bless you.. TH
July 27, 2008 at 1:58 p.m.Gabe, you did such a good job on this story!
July 27, 2008 at 1:14 p.m.It's so interesting to hear about this tragic event from a different side. This helped me realize that so much pain and suffering came from this and it affected so many different people. There's got to be a better way to handle the immigration problem.
July 27, 2008 at 12:58 p.m.A very moving story....a horror. This incident was a blaring sign that something has to be done.
At the time this happened I met one of the gentlemen who was in the trailer as he was recovering here in Victoria. He was not from Mexico but from South America. His English was near perfect and he was intelligent and verbose. He was a trained welder whose family was still in South America.
He had payed a Coyote over $3000 to get him into the states. The Coyote transported him as far as Mexico and then disappeared. The man got a job in Mexico to earn more money to make it the rest of the way. With his welding skills he was back on the road to the U.S. This time the fee was $2000. All of this work and effort to better his life and $6000 of hard earned money paid to criminals, only to end up at Chubby's.
The story he told was hard for him to tell and hard to listen to. Children crying, the smell of human excrement, unable to sit and stretching upward to get to a layer where the air was more breathable; holding a child who he did not even know because he was afraid the little one would be trampled....the heat and sweat running in his eyes and the worse part was knowing that there were dead people all around him, and the heat...always the heat; "The heat of hell" he called it.
The United States cannot take in all the poor and deprived in the world. I vehemently believe in enforcing the immigration laws that we have. I also think we should make the transporting of illegals a capital crime if any one of those transported is killed or injured.
Employers who hire illegals should be given exorbitant fines.....they are the criminals here.
I travel to California often and can honestly say that at least 90% of the maids, janitors, servers in the most fancy hotels are all illegal....the hotels hire them because they can be exploited. The last time I went, I spoke with a maid who told me that if they missed even one day because of illness, they were fired; and when I asked her about being paid for working overtime, she did not know what "overtime" was.
The fact is that most of those who come here are willing to work to better their life; however more and more of them are coming to take advantage of the social programs and to get involved in crime and gangs where the money is better and the work easier.
We have to STOP the illegals from coming and send those here back. Then we have to look at the programs we have now and make it easier for people to get here legally, but at the same time, curbing the huge numbers which are presently milking our education, health, law enforcement, and social programs dry.
These are some confirmed statistics for the State of California as published in the L.A. Times
1. 40% of all workers in L. A. County ( L. A. County has 10.2 million people)are working for cash and not paying taxes. This is because they are predominantly illegal immigrants working without a green card.
2. 95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.
3. 75% of people on the most wanted list in Los Angeles are illegal aliens.
4. Over 2/3 of all births in Los Angeles County are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal , whose births were paid for by taxpayers.
5. Nearly 35% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally
6. Over 300,000 illegal aliens in Los Angeles County are living in garages.
7. The FBI reports half of all gang members in Los Angeles are most likely illegal aliens from south of the border.
8. Nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD properties are illegal.
9. 21 radio stations in L. A. are Spanish speaking.
10. In L. A. County 5.1 million people speak English, 3.9 million speak Spanish.
(There are 10.2 million people in L. A. County . )
From my standpoint this problem has nothing to do with racism or prejudice....it has to do with the fact that the U.S. cannot afford to treat the illegal problem the way it has in the past. If not addressed, the problem will be the ruin our country; and we Amerian Citizens will be paying Coyotes to get us into Canada so we can get jobs.
Stop Illegal immigration by enforcing the laws we have. Slam those who hire illegals. Establish well controlled and monitored guest worker programs and streamline the legal entry process for those who follow the law. That old line about not being able to deport those who are already here illegally is too expensive and cannot be done. The numbers prove that we will come out ahead with massive savings in healthcare, education, welfare, and law enforcement.
We are one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world and yet those in power claim that we are unable to keep track of those who enter our country. Mexico does it, every other country in the world does it. Let's ask them....maybe they can help us.
July 27, 2008 at 11:48 a.m.A very moving piece! This article turned a story into a realization.
July 27, 2008 at 7:20 a.m.Gabe;
July 26, 2008 at 11:12 p.m.This story was well-written and so much so that it finally brought the tragedy to life for me. So much heartache.