George Alvarez's Drug Use and Anti-Migrant Insults Linked to Fatal Texas Car and Bus Stop Crashes.

The man charged in the deaths of eight people after his vehicle rammed a crowd in front of a Brownsville, Tex., migrant shelter had cocaine, benzodiazepines and marijuana in his system at the time, police said Tuesday. Witnesses said they heard the driver expressing anti-immigrant sentiments after he attempted to flee the scene. The victims had come to the United States fleeing the political and financial turmoil that has ravaged Venezuela for years. The tragedy came amid rising tensions at the U.S.-Mexico border, where authorities expect a surge of migrants once a pandemic-era policy that allows rapid expulsions of asylum seekers at the border is lifted this week.