A truck driver from Texas charged in the deaths of 53 migrants riding in a sweltering tractor-trailer with no air conditioning, pleaded guilty Thursday in the 2022 tragedy that became the nation’s deadliest smuggling attempt across the U.S.-Mexico border.
Homero Zamorano Jr. pleaded guilty in federal court in San Antonio on one count of conspiracy to transport aliens causing death, serious bodily injury, and endangering life; one count of alien transportation resulting in death; and one count of transportation of aliens resulting in serious bodily injury and endangering life.
The 48-year-old faces a maximum prison sentence of life in prison, the Ministry of Justice announced. Zamorano will be sentenced on April 24.
Mark Stevens, Zamorano’s attorney, said in an email that he could not comment on an ongoing case.
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A makeshift memorial was created after dozens of illegal immigrants were found dead in a tractor. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
Authorities say Zamorano, who was driving the truck, and other men accused in the smuggling attempt were aware that the trailer’s air conditioning was malfunctioning and would not blow cool air to the caravan. the migrants cooped up indoors during the sweltering three-hour drive from the border city of Laredo to San Antonio.
Temperatures reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) as migrants screamed and banged on the walls of the caravan for help or tried to force their way out, investigators said.
The truck was packed with 67 people, including 27 dead from Mexico, According to Mexican authorities, there are fourteen from Honduras, seven from Guatemala and two from El Salvador. Prosecutors have said migrants have paid up to $15,000 each to be taken across the US border.
The incident occurred on June 27, 2022 on a remote side road of San Antonio. Police officers detained Zamorano after spotting him hiding in a nearby thicket, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. A search of Zamorano’s cell phone revealed calls about the smuggling.
Surveillance video of the 18-wheeler being hit by a Border police checkpoint showed the driver matched Zamorano’s description, according to the complaint.
Christian Martinez, also from Texas, was also previously charged in the tragedy. He was arrested along with Zamorano shortly after the migrants were found. Martinez has since pleaded guilty to smuggling-related charges.
Law enforcement officers surround tractor trailer where dozens of illegal immigrants were found dead. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
Four Mexican nationals were also arrested in the case in 2023. And in August, a suspect arrested in Guatemala was charged with helping coordinate the smuggling effort. US authorities said they would seek the extradition of Rigoberto Román Miranda Orozco, who is charged with six counts of migrant smuggling causing death or serious injury. Authorities alleged he has ties to four Guatemalan migrants in the trailer, three of whom have died, and that he faces up to life in prison if convicted.
According to the indictment against Miranda Orozco, the smugglers forced the migrants to give up their cellphones before getting into the caravan, leaving them without the ability to call for help. An unknown powder was spread around the trailer to prevent the scent of human cargo from being detected by patrol dogs at border inspection stations.
When the trailer opened in San Antonio, 48 migrants were already dead. Another sixteen were taken to hospitals, where five more died. President Joe Biden called the tragedy “horrific and heartbreaking.”
Those who died sought a better life. News of the trailer full of bodies was met with horror in towns and villages used to seeing their young people leave in an attempt to escape poverty or violence. Central America and Mexico.
Authorities allege the men participated in human trafficking operations in Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, sharing routes, guides, warehouses, trucks and trailers, some of which were stored in a private parking lot in San Antonio.
Migrants paid the organization up to $15,000 each to be taken across the border. The fee would cover up to three attempts to enter the US
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The incident is the deadliest among the tragedies that have claimed thousands of lives as people tried to cross in recent decades the USA border of Mexico. Ten migrants died in 2017 after being trapped in a truck parked at a Walmart in San Antonio. In 2003, the bodies of 19 migrants were found in a sweltering truck southeast of San Antonio.
