A man accused of taking part in a human-smuggling operation that led to the deaths of 53 migrants in Texas has been indicted by a federal grand jury in one of the deadliest episodes involving migrants on the southern border of the United States, federal prosecutors said on Thursday.
The man, Rigoberto Ramón Miranda-Orozco, 47, who was described by Guatemalan authorities as the ringleader of the operation, was expected to be extradited from Guatemala to the United States, U.S. prosecutors said at a news conference in San Antonio.
Six others, accused of being Mr. Orozco’s accomplices, will be prosecuted in Guatemala, where investigators have secured the evidence needed to make the case, said Jaime Esparza, the U.S. attorney in San Antonio.
Guatemalan officials announced on Wednesday that they had arrested the seven people, including Mr. Orozco, in connection with the June 2022 human smuggling operation. Evidence showed that Mr. Orozco had worked with the others to secure payments from four of the migrants, three of whom died during their trip to San Antonio, according to the U.S. indictment.
The number of casualties and the manner in which the migrants died caused widespread shock at the time, with President Biden describing the incident as “horrifying and heartbreaking.”
In all, 14 people have been charged in connection with the incident, in which 66 migrants from Central America and Mexico, including eight children and a pregnant woman, were locked in a 53-foot trailer that left Laredo, Texas, in stifling heat, according to U.S. authorities.
The migrants had paid up to $15,000 each for their passage to the United States. To avoid detection, the smugglers ordered the migrants to surrender their cellphones, and they spread an unknown powder in the back of the trailer to mask the smell of the human cargo from K-9 units at U.S. Border Patrol Checkpoints, according to court records.
As the truck made its way through South Texas, temperatures reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and the migrants “screamed and banged on the walls for help,” according to one of the indictments.
“Some of the migrants inside the trailer allegedly lost consciousness, while others clawed at the walls trying to escape,” Nicole Argentieri, a deputy assistant attorney general, said in a video statement at Thursday’s news conference.
By the time the truck was found on a debris-strewn road on the outskirts of San Antonio, the driver had fled and most of the migrants, including six of the children on board, were already dead.
The dead included people from Guatemala, Mexico and Honduras.
Four of those previously charged in the case have pleaded guilty; three of them are scheduled to stand trial in October.
“Over the past two years, the Justice Department has worked methodically to hold accountable those responsible for the horrific tragedy in San Antonio that killed 53 people who had been preyed on by human smugglers,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
“We are committed to continuing to work with our partners both in the United States and abroad to target the most prolific and dangerous human smuggling groups operating in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Colombia, and Panama,” he said.
The tragedy came at a time when the number of people attempting dangerous journeys through Central America to the southern U.S. border was rising. Many were pushed by political repression, gang violence and economic desperation, among other factors. The smuggling of migrants into the United States has became a billion-dollar business, with organized crime controlling many operations.
The number of crossings at the southern U.S. border has fallen sharply in recent months following asylum restrictions imposed by the Biden administration.
The National Civil Police of Guatemala said in its announcement on Wednesday that the investigation had targeted a group of human smugglers called “Los Orozcos” in connection with the deaths in Texas.
Francisco Jiménez, Guatemala’s interior minister, said in a post on X that the operation had “dismantled” Los Orozcos.
In addition to Mr. Orozco, those taken into custody in Guatemala included Roberto de Jesús Orozco y Orozco, Kidman Roberto Orozco Orozco, Nancy Elizabeth Miranda, Patrocinio Vicente Reyes Pérez, Víctor Pérez Mendoza and Rosmery Baldomero Castillo Herrera.
Guatemalan authorities said they had evidence that the suspects had participated in the transfer of at least three Guatemalan migrants who were found alive in the trailer. They added that they had seized the equivalent of $33,541 in cash during a series of raids conducted in connection with the arrests.
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