Dying to Cross
The Worst Immigrant Tragedy in American History
Chapter OneWhen the Door Opened
It smelled of death.
When truck driver Tyrone Williams opened the door to
his trailer on the morning of Wednesday, May 14, 2003, he
never would have imagined that he would find so many people
inside. Or that several of them would be dead. Surprise can be
such an unwelcome visitor.
As he pulled the lever and opened the door to the trailer
of his eighteen-wheeler, he had to move quickly in order to
avoid being crushed by the swell of humanity that spilled out,
gasping for breath. Some of the bodies simply fell to the ground,
motionless, not seeming to breathe at all. One glance was all
it took to realize that something was very wrong. Very, very
wrong.
Inside the trailer, dozens of people were strewn across its
metal flooring: some were unconscious, while others merely
seemed to be sleeping. Seventeen were dead, and two more
would die in the hospital later that night. At that moment, however,
there was no way to know exactly who had perished and
who ... read full excerpt from: Dying to Cross ebook
