El Paso Native 1 of 2 Border Patrol Agents Killed By Train In Arizona

An El Paso native was one of two Border Patrol agents killed early Thursday when their SUV was struck by a train as they were trying to capture a group of suspected illegal immigrants.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said Agents Eduardo Rojas Jr., a native of El Paso, and Hector Clark, a native of Yuma, were killed early Thursday in a rural farming area near Interstate 8 and the town of Gila Bend, about 85 miles southwest of Phoenix.

According to Customs and Border Protection, Agent Rojas entered the U.S. Border Patrol on April 9, 2000, and was assigned to the Yuma Sector. At the time of the accident, he was serving as a Lead Border Patrol Agent in the Yuma Sector. Agent Rojas was a native of El Paso, Texas, and is survived by his wife and two children.

Agent Clark began his career with the U.S. Border Patrol on August 20, 2001. After graduation from the Border PatrolAcademy, he was assigned to the El Centro Sector and was serving as a Lead Border Patrol Agent in the Yuma Sector at the time of his death. Agent Clark was a native of Yuma, Ariz., and is survived by his wife and two children.

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office is the lead agency investigating the incident with assistance from the FBI.

?On behalf of the entire U.S. Customs and Border Protection family, I would like to share our heartfelt sympathy to the family, friends, and colleagues of Hector R. Clark and Eduardo Rojas Jr. as we mourn their passing,? said CBP Commissioner Alan D. Bersin.

Yuma Border Patrol sector spokesman Agent Kenneth Quillin said the agents were trying to position themselves on a road north of some other agents who were trying to capture a group of suspected illegal immigrants.

The suspects were on foot, and none of them have been arrested, Quillin said. “We do see groups on a regular basis traveling through this area.”

The crash happened at a railroad crossing that is marked but does not have railroad crossing arms, he said.

The Union Pacific train with 75 cars was doing about 62 mph when it hit the SUV, pushing it a mile down the tracks. TV news footage from the scene showed the mangled black vehicle in front of the train’s engine. Tarps were placed over some of the wreckage.

Before the collision, the train engineers saw the SUV on the access road and blew the train’s horn, Maricopa County Sheriff’s Lt. Aaron Douglas said.

The agents’ names were withheld pending notification of family. They were assigned to the Yuma sector, which has close to 1,000 agents.

George McCubbin, president of the National Border Patrol Council, said one of the agents who died recently transferred to the sector from El Centro, Calif.

He said he did not yet know all the specifics of the crash, but said the men died in the line of duty.

“It’s sad anytime you lose somebody in our organization,” McCubbin said.

Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne also expressed sadness over the deaths.

“This tragedy is a reminder to all of us that whether they are facing down a criminal suspect with a weapon, or patrolling the highways and deserts, these law enforcement professionals encounter life-threatening dangers every day,” Horne said in a statement.

“I join all Arizonans in mourning the deaths of these agents,” Horne said.