Guatemalan police arrested seven Guatemalans on Wednesday for smuggling 53 migrants from Mexico and Central America who were left behind in a tractor-trailer in sweltering heat in Texas in 2022 and suffocated to death.
They are the latest to be arrested following a years-long investigation into one of the worst human smuggling attempts into the U.S. Eight children are among the dead.
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Interior Minister Francisco Jimenez told The Associated Press that the arrests were made after 13 raids in three departments, including that of Rigoberto Roman Milnado Orozco, the alleged leader of a smuggling ring whose extradition is being sought by the United States.
“This is an effort by the Guatemalan National Police, the Ministry of Homeland Security and other state agencies to dismantle the structures of human trafficking, which is one of the strategic objectives set by President Bernardo Arevalo to combat the phenomenon of irregular migration,” Jimenez said.
Mourners visit a makeshift memorial in San Antonio on July 6, 2022, to remember victims and survivors of a human trafficking tragedy that occurred a week ago when dozens of migrants were found dead or near death inside a trailer. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Six people have already been indicted.
Authorities say the truck’s drivers, Omerolo Zamorano Jr. and Christian Martinez, were arrested shortly after the migrants were discovered. Both are from Texas. Martinez later pleaded guilty to smuggling-related charges. Zamorano has pleaded not guilty to smuggling-related charges and is awaiting trial. Four suspects, all Mexican nationals, were also arrested in 2023.
Authorities said the men knew the trailer’s air conditioning was broken and would not provide any cooling to the migrants trapped inside during the sweltering three-hour journey from the border city of Laredo to San Antonio.
By the time the trailer was opened in San Antonio, 48 migrants were already dead. Sixteen more were taken to hospital, where five died. The death toll included 27 from Mexico, 14 from Honduras, seven from Guatemala and two from El Salvador.
Authorities say the men worked with trafficking rings in Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, sharing routes, guides, hiding places, trucks and trailers, some of which were stored in a private parking lot in San Antonio.
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Migrants paid the group up to $15,000 each to travel across the US border, a fee that covered the costs of up to three attempts to enter the US.
Orozco, the alleged ringleader, was arrested in San Marcos department, Guatemala, on the border with Mexico. The others were arrested in the departments of Huehuetenango and Xalapa. Police have dubbed the gang “Los Orozcos” because several of those arrested have family members who bear that surname.
