2002 — Oct 13, Decomposed bodies of illegal immigrants found in railcar, Denison, IA– 11
–11 Colson. “Eleven people found suffocated…in railroad car.” Socialist Worker. 10-25-2002.
–11 Fountain and Yardley. “Skeletons Tell Tale of Gamble by Immigrants.” NYT, 10-16-2002.
–11 Riley, Victoria. “`Train to Nowhere’ recounts immigration-smuggling tragedy.” 9-30-2010.
–11 Strickland and Gold. “17 Found Dead at Texas Truck Stop.” Los Angeles Times, 5-14-2003
Narrative Information
Oct 16: “About four months ago somewhere along a stretch of railroad tracks in Texas, perhaps, or Mexico, 11 people took a death-defying gamble. They climbed into an empty grain hopper, a rail car that can be tightly sealed to keep its contents clean and dry. The hatch was shut and locked from the outside, leaving the stowaways, presumably immigrants being smuggled from Mexico or Central America, trapped in stifling darkness. Then they died. Whether they suffocated, starved or succumbed to the heat, the authorities do not know, only that they died horribly, and unnoticed.
“The Union Pacific hopper ended up in Oklahoma, where it sat unopened in long-term storage all summer and into the fall. On Sunday [Oct 13], it traveled to this small farm town 60 miles northeast of Omaha, where a worker at a grain elevator opening grain hoppers for routine inspection found the near-skeletal remains, Sheriff Tom Hogan of Crawford County said at a news conference here this morning.” (Fountain, John W. and Jim Yardley. “Skeletons Tell Tale of Gamble by Immigrants.” New York Times, Wednesday, 10-16-2002.)
Oct 25: “The horrific consequences of U.S. immigration policy became all too clear in Denison, Iowa, last week. Workers at a grain elevator discovered the bodies of 11 people who had been trapped in a grain car for at least four months. The four women and seven men were most likely undocumented Mexican immigrants who boarded the train after being smuggled into the U.S. The rail car left Matamoros, Mexico, in June and was stored in Oklahoma for months before being shipped to Iowa.
“The circumstances of the deaths are horrifying. The rail car was latched from the outside, trapping the people inside. With no food or water–and temperatures that probably reached more than 130 degrees inside the steel car–doctors say that the victims may have become delirious and suffered hallucinations before finally slowly suffocating to death….” (Colson, Nicole. “Eleven people found suffocated to death in railroad car.” Socialist Worker.org. 10-25-2002, p. 2.)
May 14, 2003, LA Times: “In October, workers found 11 badly decomposed bodies in a railcar in Denison, Iowa. Officials estimated that the victims had been trapped inside the rail car for at least four months.” (Strickland and Gold. “17 Found Dead at Texas Truck Stop.” LA Times, 5-14-2003.)
Sep 30, 2010: “Denison – Dozens of railcars have passed through Denison in the last eight years, but none have been etched on Colleen Bradford Krantz’s mind like the one that carried 11 dead Central American and Mexican illegal immigrants into town on Oct. 15, 2002. For eight years, while the event fell prey to the public’s short-term memory, Krantz, an Adel resident and former Des Moines Register journalist, could never seem forget the story of what she deemed “the train to nowhere.” “Before I left the Des Moines Register five years ago, I was working for them in eastern Iowa and didn’t have much to do with the story when it broke, but it always seemed to stick with me for some reason,” she said. “When I decided to leave the paper and stay at home with my kids, I started writing a book proposal on the subject.” Not knowing where the book might go, Krantz partnered one year ago with film director Paul Kakert, president of the Davenport-based Storytellers International, to turn her search for answers into the newly completed documentary, “Train to Nowhere: Inside an Immigrant Death Investigation” — a story of a U.S Immigration and Naturalization Service officer’s hunt for those responsible for the 11 deaths….
“Krantz, an Iowa State University journalism graduate, based her works on conversations with border guards and federal agents involved in the case, who helped piece together the victims’ path from Mexico, where they were loaded by smugglers into a grain hopper bound for the U.S. The smugglers lost track of the hopper, which crossed the U.S.-Mexican border undetected by authorities, and continued on to Oklahoma, where it was stored for four months before it made its way to Iowa with the victims still inside. It was later discovered that the victims, ranging in ages from 18 to 40, were unable to release the hatch inside the rail car, leading to their deaths by dehydration and hyperthermia. The victims were identified with help from DNA test and the FBI and returned to their home countries.
“Nearly a year after the remains were found, charges were brought against two of the four persons believed to have connections to the smuggling ring. Juan Fernando Licea-Cedillo, of Mexico, was sentenced to 292 months imprisonment. Former train conductor Arnulfo Flores, of Kingsville, Texas, was sentenced to 41 months behind bars for providing train schedules to the smugglers. Rogelio Hernandez Ramos, of Mexico, was found in his home country, but Krantz said, before he’s extradited, Mexico wants assurance Ramos won’t receive the death penalty. Only Guillermo Madrigal Ballesteros, of Mexico, remains a fugitive in the case, she said.
“Krantz did nab an interview with Flores, following his early release from prison. ‘He was a little reluctant to do the interview, but we went to Texas to talk to him, and I wasn’t even sure it would happen until we sat down with him,’ she said. Krantz said Flores doesn’t blame himself for the 11 deaths, but she thinks his coming forward about it was his way of reaching out. ‘He says in the documentary that he doesn’t feel responsible for what happened because he didn’t load the victims in the railcar, but I think part of his willingness to be in the documentary was a way of giving something to the families,’ she said.
“But the story doesn’t end there. An interview with a Mexican-American immigration agent explains the criminal investigation that ensued. But it’s interviews with the family of victim Byron Acevedo, 18, of Guatemala, that Krantz said humanizes this story of inhumane treatment. She said Acevedo’s brother, Eliseo, a New York resident and one-time undocumented worker, explains the heartbreak he still suffers because of his brother’s death….” (Riley. “`Train to Nowhere’…immigration-smuggling tragedy.” 9-30-2010. Daily Times Herald, Carroll, IA.)
Sources
Colson, Nicole. “Eleven people found suffocated to death in railroad car. Victims of Washington’s war in immigrants.” Socialist Worker.org. 10-25-2002, p. 2. Accessed 3-30-2014 at: http://socialistworker.org/2002-2/427/427_02_Denison.shtml
Fountain, John W. and Jim Yardley. “Skeletons Tell Tale of Gamble by Immigrants.” New York Times, 10-16-2002. Accessed 3-30-2014 at: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/16/us/skeletons-tell-tale-of-gamble-by-immigrants.html
Riley, Victoria (Editor). “`Train to Nowhere’ recounts immigration-smuggling tragedy.” 9-30-2010. Daily Times Herald, Carroll, IA. Accessed 3-30-2014 at: http://www.carrollspaper.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=11052
Strickland, Daryl and Scott Gold. “17 Found Dead at Texas Truck Stop.” Los Angeles Times, 5-14-2003. Accessed at: http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/immigration/immigrants-dead.htm