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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 7 May 2019

In this March 15, 2018, file photo, emergency personnel respond
after a brand-new pedestrian bridge collapsed onto a highway
at Florida International University in Miami.
Associated Press

Students from Desert View High School sit by a banner after marching to the Pima County Sheriff's
Department on Monday, May 6, 2019 in Tucson, Ariz. Records: Cracks in
Associated Press
Students protest as high school Miami bridge grew

'daily' before collapse
senior faces deportation

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) to figure out why it hap-
By ANITA SNOW Rodriguez, who launched Torres' classmates marched — Just hours before a pe- pened?"
Associated Press a GoFundMe page to about 4 miles (6.5 kilome- destrian bridge collapsed "FIGG responded that all
PHOENIX (AP) — A high raise money for Torres' le- ters) from the school to the and killed six people at a we 'know is that it just hap-
school football player who gal costs, said the young sheriff's office to demand Miami university, engineers pened,'" said the notes tak-
has been in the U.S. since man was a toddler when his release. They also called confirmed that cracks in en by the university.
he was a toddler was in his relatives brought him on all law enforcement the concrete structure "in- FIGG went on to say that
custody for possible depor- from Mexico in search of a agencies to not collabo- creased in length daily," there was no concern
tation to his native Mexico, better future. She said his rate with immigration au- according to meeting re- about the safety of the
prompting a protest Mon- parents had long since re- thorities. cords released Monday by span and that nothing
day by classmates outside turned to Mexico, leaving "Thomas is the American the Florida Department of should be done about re-
an Arizona sheriff's office. him alone in the U.S., and Dream," said one of the Transportation. pairing the cracks until
Thomas Torres, who is he had lived with her family many homemade signs The meeting included of- after construction of the
scheduled to graduate throughout high school. carried by students pro- ficials from the state and back span. The construc-
May 22 from Desert View "People like Thomas are testing outside the sheriff's Florida International Uni- tion and inspection team
High School, was at a fed- needed in this country," Ro- office. Other signs read, versity, which was building still raised concerns, saying,
eral holding facility in Casa driguez wrote on the fund- "Abolish the Border Patrol" a pedestrian bridge over "it wanted more eyes on
Grande, Arizona, accord- raising site. "He's a hard- and "Without Justice, There a busy roadway when the this and that the more eyes
ing to the family he has working young man willing is No Peace." span fell onto traffic, killing on this, the better. FIGG
been living with. Now, he to better his future." Torres was taken into cus- six people in March 2018. concurred."
is scheduled to appear in Torres played on the Desert tody Thursday after a traf- Minutes of the meeting Hours later, the 174-foot-
immigration court on that View High School football fic stop by sheriff's depu- were released after pre- long (53-meter) span fell
date. team and regularly worked ties and turned over to viously being blocked as onto traffic flowing on a
Lorena Rodriguez said Tor- several jobs, including bus- Border Patrol, said Victor the National Transportation busy highway beneath the
res had lived for years at ing tables at a restaurant Mercado, a spokesman for Safety Board investigated bridge.
her family's home, where and yardwork, friends said. the Sunnyside Unified High the collapse. Cracks found While the state released the
he shared a room with her Although deportation pro- School District. in the span were discussed records, it said it wouldn't
brother, who also is set to ceedings involving high Border Patrol spokeswom- at length. comment further until after
graduate. Their caps and school students who have an Meredith Mingledorff "CEI confirmed cracks have the NTSB finishes its investi-
gowns are already hang- reached adulthood are confirmed Monday that increased in length daily," gation.
ing in the bedroom closet. not uncommon, the out- Torres is in federal custody the notes said, referring to Last week the now bank-
Torres' detention, com- pouring of support from and faces immigration the construction, engineer- rupt construction company
ing shortly before a major Torres' classmates seemed charges after the agency ing and inspection team. that built the bridge and its
rite of passage in the only unusual. A large portion of was contacted by the Pima The Florida Department of insurers reached an agree-
country he remembers, is a the population in Tucson's County Sheriff's Office. Transportation asked FIGG ment to pay up to $42 mil-
stark example of the Trump southern district, where the There was no information Bridge Group, the compa- lion to surviving victims of
administration's crackdown school is located, is Mexi- on where Torres was when ny that designed the span, the collapse and the fami-
on illegal immigration. can-American. he was stopped.q "Are you going to continue lies of those killed.q