A Texas sheriff said an SUV carrying 12 undocumented immigrants flipped and killed at least five people as it raced from Border Patrol Sunday afternoon. Dimmit County Sheriff Marion Boyd told CNN four people were killed at the scene on Highway 85 near Big Wells, Texas. A fifth person died at a San Antonio hospital. The sheriff confirmed to local news outlets that the car flipped and ejected several people at end of a high-speed car chase with U.S. Border Patrol agents. At HWY 85/Big Wells. This SUV carrying fourteen crashes trying to escape border patrol. 12 undocumented immigrants ejected. Four died on scene. Waiting to hear from officials. @News4SA @KABBFOX29 pic.twitter.com/BpAo4TmvPp — David Caltabiano (@DavidCaltabiano) June 17, 2018 "The vehicle ran off the road and caught gravel and then tried to recorrect and then caused the vehicle to turn over several times," he said. "We've seen this many, many times, in not only this county but other counties along the border... This is a perfect example of why our borders need to be secure," he added. SATX-TV reported that a sixth person has possibly died in the hospital. Fourteen people in total were believed to be in the vehicle and authorities told CNN they believe the driver and one passenger were U.S. citizens.<doc-sep>Five people have been killed and several others injured after an SUV suspected of smuggling illegal immigrants crashed while fleeing from Border Patrol agents in South Texas, authorities said. The driver of the car, who was transporting 13 other people, lost control while travelling at around 100 mph. The vehicle overturned on Texas Highway 85 and most of the occupants were thrown out of the vehicle, Dimmit County Sheriff Marion Boyd said. “From what we can tell the vehicle ran off the road and caught gravel and then tried to re-correct,” Mr Boyd said, adding that “caused the vehicle to turn over several times”. Four victims were found dead at the scene and a fifth was pronounced dead after being airlifted to a hospital in San Antonio, Mr Boyd said. A sixth person was in critical condition with potentially life-threatening injuries, he added. The Border Patrol said in a statement that two other vehicles had been travelling alongside the SUV earlier in the day. An agent suspected they were conducting a “smuggling event,” according to the statement. The border agent stopped one of the vehicles and another agent stopped a second one. Multiple people from both vehicles were arrested. The third vehicle did not stop when asked, and a sheriff’s deputy took over the chase prior to the fatal crash, the border patrol said. The incident comes amid increased tensions over the treatment of immigrants at the southern border. Donald Trump‘s administration has said tougher immigration policies – even separating children from their parents – are needed to deter immigrants from coming to the country illegally. Over a six-week period ending in May, about 2,000 children had been separated from their families, administration officials said Friday. Most of the occupants in the SUV were believed to be in the country without legal permission. Mr Boyd said the driver and one passenger were believed to be US citizens. A deputy who assisted the Border Patrol with the chase found the driver sitting upright in his seat and took him and the passenger into custody. The driver was also taken to hospital. 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A Border Patrol trainee near San Antonio in 2017. Image : via Getty Five people were killed and several others were injured on Sunday in a high-speed car chase involving Border Patrol and an SUV allegedly carrying undocumented immigrants from Mexico into Texas. NBC News reports that at around 11 a.m. on Sunday, immigration officials stationed near the town of Big Wells in southwest Texas spotted three SUVs they believed to be smuggling undocumented immigrants. Agents stopped two of the cars, they said, but chased after a third, which was reportedly speeding along Highway 85 at around 100 miles per hour. Border Patrol agents and a local sheriff’s deputy chased the car until it ran off the road, ejecting several passengers. “Border patrol was pursuing a vehicle, a Chevrolet Suburban, and one of my deputies assisted and took over the pursuit just west of Big Wells,” Dimmit County Sheriff Marion Boyd told ABC News. “The vehicle was traveling around 100 miles per hour and from what we could tell the vehicle ran off the road, caught gravel, then tried to recorrect and that caused the vehicle to turn over several times.” Four passengers died at the scene, according to Boyd, and several others were transported to a San Antonio hospital, where another passenger succumbed to their injuries. The driver was taken into custody, Boyd said. The deceased have yet to be identified. Boyd claimed the fatal chase was a common occurrence in the area, which is located about 50 miles from the Mexican border. He told reporters it signified the need for increased border security. “This is, I think, a perfect example of why our borders need to be secure. It endangers American lives as well as those people from Mexico and other countries coming here for whatever reasons they are coming,” he said. But the conversation surrounding border security has sharply increased over the last few weeks, both with the implementation of the Trump administration’s zero tolerance policy regarding undocumented immigrants, and the revelation that immigration officials have been separating caught migrants from their children at the border. Also on Sunday, a group of Democrats visited Customs and Border processing centers in South Texas, and Texas Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke, who is running for Senator Ted Cruz’s seat, called for an end to the separation practice. Former First Lady Laura Bush, who previously served as the First Lady of Texas, wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post slamming the separation practice. “I live in a border state. I appreciate the need to enforce and protect our international boundaries, but this zero-tolerance policy is cruel. It is immoral. And it breaks my heart,” Bush, who still lives in Texas, wrote. “Americans pride ourselves on being a moral nation, on being the nation that sends humanitarian relief to places devastated by natural disasters or famine or war.” It is noteworthy that the framework for the current zero tolerance policy comes from a 2005 immigration policy that aimed to increase the number of migrant prosecutions at the border. That policy, dubbed Operation Streamline, was implemented by George W. Bush’s administration, i.e., under Bush’s husband.