Man in SUV Crash In U.S. Illegally
SANTA FE— The 11 Mexican nationals in an SUV that crashed outside Santa Fe last week— killing four and critically injuring five others— were headed to Atlanta from Phoenix with a driver who was paid $600 to make the trip, court records state.

The driver, Israel Munoz-Tello, 28, has been arrested at least 11 times since 2004 by the U.S. Border Patrol for being in the United States illegally, according to an arrest warrant affidavit filed Monday in U.S. District Court.

Also, "on at least three occasions, he was identified as the driver transporting illegal aliens into the United States," the affidavit said.

The cross-country trip turned deadly shortly before 5 a.m. Thursday, when Munoz-Tello fell asleep at the wheel of his Chevy Suburban on N.M. 599 south of Santa Fe.

Of the 11 undocumented Mexican nationals in the Suburban, four are dead, including a 15-year-old boy, Libarde Salvador Gomez. Five remain in critical condition at area hospitals. The Chevy Suburban that Munoz-Tello was driving is designed to hold eight people.

Munoz-Tello, who was in the United States illegally when he rolled the SUV, is among the survivors. He faces a felony charge of transporting illegal immigrants and had an initial appearance Monday in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque.

Because of the deaths, he could theoretically face the death penalty, although prosecutors rarely seek capital punishment when fatalities resulted from an accident.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Norm Cairns said Munoz-Tello could face life in prison.

Thursday's rollover occurred on N.M. 599, about a mile north of Interstate 25 south of the Santa Fe city limits. Authorities have said they suspect that Munoz-Tello, of Michoacan, Mexico, fell asleep at the wheel, then overcorrected, flipping the Suburban several times before it came to rest on its wheels.