A Texas truck driver killed 53 migrants Thursday in a blazing tractor-trailer with no air conditioning, sparking a 2022 tragedy that became the country's worst smuggling attempt across the U.S.-Mexico border. He was charged with a crime and pleaded guilty.
Homero Zamorano Jr. pleaded guilty in federal court in San Antonio to conspiracy to transport aliens causing death, serious injury and endangering life. One fatal accident occurred while transporting foreigners. There is also one charge of transporting a foreign national causing serious bodily injury and endangering life.
The Justice Department said the 48-year-old could be sentenced to up to life in prison. Zamorano is scheduled to be sentenced on April 24.
Mark Stevens, Zamorano's attorney, said in an email that he cannot comment on pending cases.
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An impromptu memorial was created after dozens of illegal immigrants were found dead in a trailer. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
Authorities said Zamorano, the driver of the truck, and the other men charged with attempted smuggling had discovered the trailer's air conditioning system was malfunctioning and had been forced to drive three hours from the sweltering border. During the journey, they reportedly did not attempt to blow cold air on the migrants who were trapped inside the vehicle. From Laredo City to San Antonio.
Investigators said temperatures reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) as the migrants screamed and banged on the walls of the trailer, begging for help and trying to claw their way out.
Mexican authorities said 67 people were crammed into the truck, including 27 from Mexico, 14 from Honduras, seven from Guatemala and two from El Salvador. Prosecutors said the migrants paid up to $15,000 each to cross the U.S. border.
The incident occurred on June 27, 2022, on a remote back street in San Antonio. Officers found Zamorano hiding in nearby bushes and took him into custody, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. A search of Zamorano's cell phone revealed a call related to smuggling.
Surveillance video of the 18-wheeler passing through a Border Patrol checkpoint showed the driver matching Zamorano's description, according to the indictment.
Fellow Texas resident Christian Martinez, who was previously charged in the tragedy, was arrested along with Zamorano shortly after the migrants were discovered. Martinez later pleaded guilty to smuggling-related charges.
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Law enforcement surrounds a tractor-trailer where dozens of illegal immigrants were found dead. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
In 2023, four Mexican nationals were arrested in connection with this incident. And in August, a suspect arrested in Guatemala was charged with coordinating a smuggling scheme. U.S. authorities announced they will seek the extradition of Rigoberto Roman Miranda Orozco, who is charged with six counts of migrant smuggling causing death or serious injury. Authorities claimed he had ties to four Guatemalan immigrants who appeared in the trailer, three of whom died, and could face life in prison if convicted.
The indictment against Miranda Orozco says the smugglers forced the migrants to give up their cellphones before boarding the trailer and gave them no way to call for help. An unknown powder was spread around the trailer to prevent the odor of the human cargo from being detected by patrol dogs at the border checkpoint.
When the trailer opened in San Antonio, 48 immigrants had already died. A further 16 people were taken to hospital and five more died. President Joe Biden called the tragedy “horrible and heartbreaking.”
Those who died were seeking a better life. News of the trailer full of bodies horrified cities and villages accustomed to seeing young people leave to escape poverty and violence in Central America and Mexico.
Authorities say the men cooperated in human smuggling operations in Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, sharing routes, guides, caches, trucks and trailers, some of which were stored in private parking lots in San Antonio. There is.
The migrants paid the organization up to $15,000 each to take them across the border. This fee covers up to three attempts to enter the United States.
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The incident is the deadliest in a series of tragedies that have claimed thousands of lives in recent decades as people tried to cross the U.S. border from Mexico. In 2017, 10 immigrants died after being trapped inside a truck parked at a San Antonio Walmart. In 2003, the bodies of 19 immigrants were found inside a hot truck southeast of San Antonio.
