Two men were charged Wednesday in the case of a hot, airless tractor-trailer discovered last month with 53 migrants dead or dying in San Antonio, he said.
A federal grand jury in San Antonio indicted Homero Zamorano Jr. , 46, and Christian Martinez, 28, both of Pasadena, Texas, for shipping and conspiracy to send immigrants illegally, death and shipping, and conspiracy to send immigrants illegally. in serious injuries.
Both remain in federal custody without bail pending trial. Martinez’s attorney, David Shearer of San Antonio, declined to comment on the allegations. A message left with Zamorano’s lawyer was not returned without delay.
A death sentence can result in life in prison, however, the state attorney general may simply allow prosecutors to apply for the death penalty. Charges of serious physical harm carry sentences of up to 20 years in prison.
It is the deadliest tragedy to claim the lives of migrants smuggling across the border from Mexico. The truck was packed with 67 people, and among the dead were 27 Mexicans, 14 Hondurans, seven Guatemalans and two Salvadorans, Francisco Garduño said. , head of the National Institute of Migration of Mexico.
The incident occurred on a secondary highway far from San Antonio on June 27. Arriving police officers arrested Zamorano after seeing him hiding in the brush, according to a report from the U. S. Attorney’s Office. A search of Zamorano’s mobile phone revealed calls with Martinez related to the smuggling race.
Surveillance video of the 18-wheeler passing through a Border Patrol checkpoint showed the motive force matched Zamorano’s description, according to the indictment. One survivor of the trip, a 20-year-old Guatemalan woman, told The Associated Press that smugglers covered the floor of the trailer with what she believes to be powdered bird broth, to get rid of the dogs at the checkpoint.
The tragedy occurred at a time when gigantic numbers of migrants have arrived in the United States, many of them in dangerous danger to cross fast-moving rivers and canals and hot desert landscapes. Migrants were arrested nearly 240,000 times in May, a third more than a year ago.
Among those who died in the van were others from the Mexican states of Guanajuato, Veracruz, Oaxaca, Mexico, Zacatecas, Queretaro, Morelos and Mexico City.
In 2017, another 10 people died after being trapped in a van parked at a Walmart in San Antonio. In 2003, the bodies of 19 migrants were discovered in a suffocating van southeast of the city.
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