By Gisela Salomon And Fabiola Sánchez
Associated Press
MIAMI (AP) — A Mexican man who was struck and killed by a tractor trailer in Florida after running from federal immigration officers was vacationing in the U.S. and had a tourist visa, according to a Mexico official and a group assisting his wife.
Juan Jairo Coronilla Durán, 28, died July 14 after authorities said he darted across a busy road in St. Augustine and into the path of a truck. His death was the third in roughly a week involving encounters with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, following fatal shootings in Texas and Maine.
Coronilla Durán traveled from his hometown of San Luis de la Paz, in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, to Atlanta to visit family and friends, according to Isaret Jeffers, founder of Colectivo Arbol, a farmworkers advocacy group. He had stayed in Georgia for three weeks before traveling to Florida’s east coast to enjoy the beaches, Jeffers said Tuesday.
U.S. authorities have not publicly identified the man, but a Mexico official confirmed his name. Jeffers said Yezzika Alamilla, the man’s wife, told them he had been visiting the U.S. on a tourist visa.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Tuesday about whether Coronilla Durán had a valid visa.
Authorities say he ran from immigration officers
Coronilla Durán was one of four people in a vehicle that stopped in a gas station parking lot before 7 a.m. on the day he died. The four fled on foot during an encounter with agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations, with one darting across a busy road into the path of the semi, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
It is unclear what prompted the encounter and what happened to the vehicle’s other three occupants.
The Highway Patrol and DHS have not provided additional details, citing the ongoing investigation.
Advocacy group says his wife sought help
Alamilla called Colectivo Arbol, which provides legal advice and assistance to farmworkers in Central Florida, the day after her husband died, Jeffers said. She was seeking help to travel from Mexico and repatriate her husband’s remains. The organization bought her a plane ticket and put her up for three days, until Monday, she said. The Mexican consulate has been helping her since.
“His wife said he was there on a tourist visa. She didn’t understand what was happening,” Jeffers said. “He didn’t come to work; he wasn’t working. He was here as a tourist.”
Alamilla “thinks he was very afraid, and that’s why he ran away,” Jeffers said.
His remains will be repatriated
According to information provided by the widow, Coronilla Durán “had been in the United States for only a very short time (and) had a tourist visa,” said Susana Guerra Vallejo, the undersecretary for assistance to migrants and mobility issues for the Mexican state of Guanajuato.
She said that Alamilla would be able to see the body of her husband at the Florida funeral home.
Coronilla Durán’s body will be transported to Mexico on a commercial flight from Orlando, Guerra Vallejo told The Associated Press. He will be buried in his hometown of San Luis de la Paz, a farming community in Guanajuato that is about 160 miles (260 kilometers) northwest of Mexico City, she said.
Coronilla Durán and Alamilla had two children, a 7-month-old girl and a 7-year-old boy, Jeffers said.
Coronilla Durán’s death was at least the 10th involving encounters with immigration agents since President Donald Trump launched his mass deportation campaign last year.
The Mexican government said it had asked state attorneys general in the U.S. to review the deaths of migrants in ICE custody or during raids for possible criminal prosecution.
Sánchez reported from Mexico City. Associated Press reporter Maria Verza contributed from Mexico City.