Smugglers to spend life in prison for 53 migrant deaths in Texas

AUSTIN, Texas — Two smugglers convicted of federal charges in connection with the deaths of 53 migrants found in the back of a sweltering tractor-trailer in Texas in 2022 will spend the rest of their lives in prison after being sentenced Friday on the third anniversary of the tragedy.

Felipe Orduna-Torres and Armando Gonzales-Ortega were the first of several defendants to be sentenced in the nation’s deadliest human smuggling attempt across the U.S.-Mexico border.

A federal jury convicted the men in March of being part of a human smuggling conspiracy that resulted in death and injury. They were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia at a hearing in San Antonio.

Prosecutors described Orduna-Torres, 30, as the leader of the smuggling operation inside the U.S. and he was sentenced to life in prison. Gonzales-Ortega, 55, was his top assistant and was sentenced to 83 years. The federal prison system does not offer parole.

“These criminals will spend the rest of their lives in prison because of their cruel choice to profit off of human suffering,” U.S. Atty. Gen. Pamela Bondi said. “Today’s sentences are a powerful message to human smugglers everywhere: We will not rest until you are behind bars.”

The immigrants had come from Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico and had paid between $12,000 and $15,000 each to be smuggled into the United States, according to an indictment in the case. They had made it as far as the Texas border city of Laredo when they were placed into a tractor-trailer with broken air conditioning for a three-hour drive to San Antonio.

As the temperature rose inside the trailer, those inside screamed and banged on the walls of the trailer for help or tried to claw their way out, investigators said. Most eventually passed out. When the trailer was opened in San Antonio, 48 people were already dead. Another 16 were taken to hospitals, where five more died. The dead included six children and a pregnant woman.

The judge allowed victim family members in Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala to watch the sentencing hearing via video conference. Some provided statements to be read and the judge also read the names of the 53 who died.

Investigators said Orduna-Torres and Gonzales-Ortega worked with human smuggling operations in Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, and shared routes, guides, stash houses, trucks and trailers. Orduna-Torres provided the address in Laredo where they would be picked up, and Gonzalez-Ortega met them there.

Prosecutors estimated the group smuggled more than 1,100 people across the border between November 2021 and June 2022, collecting more than $13 million.

Justin Simmons, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas, called those figures a warning for anyone thinking of paying to be smuggled into the country.

“Cartels do not care about you,” Simmons said. “They do not care about your hopes and dreams. They do not care about your desire for a better life. They care about money.”

Five other men previously pleaded guilty to felony charges in the smuggling case, including the truck driver, Homero Zamorano Jr., who was found hiding near the trailer in some bushes. Zamorano faces up to life in prison when sentenced in December.

Those other defendants are scheduled to be sentenced later this year, and a sixth who was arrested in Guatemala last year awaits trial.

The 2022 smuggling attempt is the deadliest among tragedies that have claimed thousands of lives in recent decades as people attempt to cross the U.S. border from Mexico. Ten immigrants died in 2017 after they were trapped inside a truck parked at a Walmart store in San Antonio. In 2003, the bodies of 19 immigrants were found in a sweltering truck southeast of San Antonio.

Vertuno writes for the Associated Press.