Two more charged in Texas tractor smuggling deaths
Print Edition
The suspected driver of a truck packed with dozens of migrants who died in sweltering heat during a smuggling attempt in Texas and an accused conspirator were charged in US federal court on Wednesday with human trafficking offenses.
If convicted each man faces a maximum sentence of life in prison, or possibly the death penalty, the US Justice Department said in announcing charges stemming from the deadliest migrant-trafficking incident on record in the United States.
The death toll from the tragedy rose to 53 on Wednesday as local authorities reported two more migrants initially hospitalized from their ordeal packed inside a sweltering trailer had died.
The truck, carrying migrants from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, was discovered abandoned on Monday in a desolate, industrial area near a highway on the outskirts of San Antonio, Texas, about 250 kilometers north of the US-Mexico border.
Temperatures in the area that day had soared as high as 103 Fahrenheit (39.4 degrees Celsius), and authorities called to the scene found no water supplies or signs of working air-conditioning inside the cargo trailer.
Officials described finding the rear door to the trailer ajar with “stacks of bodies” inside, many of them hot to the touch. Other victims were discovered on the ground nearby, some deceased, some incapacitated.
The truck’s alleged driver, Homero Zamorano Jr, 45, a Texas native who was arrested near the scene, was charged in a criminal complaint with one count of “alien smuggling resulting in death,” according to the Justice Department.
San Antonio police officers found Zamorano hiding in the brush, according to federal prosecutors.
A second suspect, Christian Martinez, 28, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with a single count of “conspiracy to transport illegal aliens,” the Justice Department said in its statement. His nationality was not revealed.
Two more men suspected of involvement in the deadly smuggling incident, both of them Mexican nationals, were charged on Tuesday in US federal court with being illegal immigrants in possession of firearms.
Authorities said the pair — Juan Francisco D’Luna-Bilbao and Juan Claudio D’Luna-Mendez — were arrested when they were seen leaving a San Antonio residence listed on the Texas state vehicle registration of the trailer.
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