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ICE Statement Conflicts With Footage of Crash That Killed Immigrant Couple

A deportation officer claimed the couple wasn't being pursued "with emergency lights/sirens."

A statement deportation officers gave to police about a couple who died in March fleeing Immigration and Customs Enforcement conflicts with surveillance video of the accident, the Los Angeles Times reported. Last month, a deportation officer told the Delano Police Department that he did not use "emergency lights/sirens" while following the vehicle of Santos Hilario Garcia and Marcelina Garcia Profecto, undocumented immigrants who fatally crashed into a pole while driving away from ICE agents. But surveillance footage viewed by Delano police showed that two Jeeps following the couple’s Ford Explorer had emergency lights on, the report says. The statements given by ICE agents, "contradict with the surveillance review conducted," the police department stated. An ICE spokesperson said that a review of "the facts surrounding the encounter" is still ongoing. "While this was an isolated and extremely unfortunate incident, ICE wants to encourage all individuals we encounter to fully cooperate with our law enforcement officers," ICE spokesman Richard Rocha said in a statement.