Death of Elena Catarina Morales-Chan
Elena Catarina Morales-Chan
1 — drowning after pursuit crash into canalKilled
Key sources
Elena Catarina Morales-Chan (29, Mexican) died on 2025-03-28 during or as a result of a CBP / Border Patrol operation, in Edcouch, Texas (Rio Grande Valley). The SUV she was in fled a Border Patrol human-smuggling pursuit during severe RGV flooding and plunged into a water-filled canal; she and a 14-year-old boy drowned while five others were rescued.
What is known
- Person: Elena Catarina Morales-Chan, age 29; Mexican.
- Date: 2025-03-28.
- Location: Edcouch, Texas (Rio Grande Valley).
- Agency: CBP / Border Patrol.
- Reported cause: drowning after pursuit crash into canal.
- Circumstance: The SUV she was in fled a Border Patrol human-smuggling pursuit during severe RGV flooding and plunged into a water-filled canal; she and a 14-year-old boy drowned while five others were rescued.
- Official account: Border Patrol confirmed the drownings, framing it as a smuggling event during severe weather; two men charged federally with transporting people resulting in death.
- Status: Federal smuggling prosecution ongoing (Vicente Garcia Jr., 18; Jose Alexis Baeze-Combaluzier, 26). Some fatality trackers flag it as "difficult to categorize.".
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See also
- Category:Deaths by immigration enforcement
- Category:Deaths during immigration enforcement operations
Needs review