DENVER (KDVR) — Immigration and Customs Enforcement say the truck driver accused of side-swiping five vehicles, killing one person and closing U.S. 285 for over 14 hours, had been told to leave the U.S. 16 times.
The driver of the big rig first started having immigration issues back in 2002, according to an ICE spokesperson. Investigators say Ignacio Cruz-Mendoza should have never been driving and had been ordered to return to Mexico 16 times since 2002.
He was arrested in the deadly Jefferson County crash on several charges, including not having a commercial driver’s license. Investigators say Cruz-Mendoza’s truck crossed into oncoming traffic and lost its load.
FOX31 spoke to a local driving school that watches regulations in the industry closely. Howard Ogg said there seems to be a trend of more rigs being driven by people who enter the country illegally.
“There needs to be more accountability on some of these carriers who bring these drivers on. The bigger companies have different procedures to make sure these guys have proper documents. But some of the smaller companies do not and that’s a concern,” Ogg said.
Ogg said the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration investigates companies that hire drivers without proper credentials. Cruz-Mendoza was driving for a company registered out of California, according to Colorado State Patrol.
FOX31 has reached out to that company’s registered owner for a comment. It’s not clear if Cruz-Mendoza was familiar with mountain driving, which can become a dangerous situation for big rig drivers.
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