A suspect arrested in Guatemala has been charged with helping coordinate a 2022 human smuggling attempt that culminated in the deaths of 53 migrants in Texas, the Justice Department announced Thursday, in what U.S. authorities called a major expansion of their investigation into the chilling discovery in an abandoned truck on a back road.
U.S. authorities say they will seek the extradition of Rigoberto Roman Miranda Orozco, who is charged with six counts of migrant smuggling resulting in death or serious injury in the deadliest attempted border crossing between the United States and Mexico. Authorities say he is linked to four of the Guatemalan migrants in the trailer, three of whom died, and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.
“We will prosecute you, no matter if you are hiding in the United States or somewhere else,” U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza said at a news conference in San Antonio.
Miranda Orozco, 47, is the first person arrested outside the country to face charges in the United States in connection with the investigation. Esparza said seven people had been arrested in the United States.
Guatemalan authorities announced Wednesday the arrest of Miranda Orozco and six other people accused of aiding in migrant trafficking. Of them, only Miranda Orozco faces extradition to the United States, while the others will be tried in Guatemala, Esparza said.
Carlos Merida, Miranda Orozco’s lawyer, said that his client did not accept the charges against him and that he was an ordinary citizen “who was a migrant in the north (United States) for 15 years.”
Previously charged individuals include Homero Zamorano Jr., who authorities say was driving the truck, and Christian Martinez. Both are from Texas and were arrested shortly after the migrants were found. Martinez pleaded guilty to human trafficking charges, while Zamorano pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.
Four Mexicans were also arrested in 2023.
Authorities say the men knew the truck’s air conditioning unit was faulty and would not provide fresh air to migrants trapped inside 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 sides of the trailer for help or tried to claw their way out, investigators said.
According to the case against Miranda Orozco opened on Wednesday, the smugglers had forced the migrants to hand over their phones before getting into the trailer, so they had no way to call for help. The smugglers also spread a powder around the vehicle to prevent the human cargo from being detected by dogs trained at border crossings.
By the time the trailer was opened in San Antonio, 48 migrants were dead. Another 16 were taken to hospitals, where five more died. Among the dead were 27 Mexicans, 14 Hondurans, seven Guatemalans and two Salvadorans. President Joe Biden called the tragedy “horrendous and heartbreaking.”
Authorities say the men worked in human trafficking operations in Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, and shared routes, guides, safe houses, trucks and trailers, some of which were stored in a private parking lot in San Antonio.
The migrants paid the organization up to $15,000 each to cross the border. The fee would cover up to three attempts to enter the United States.
Guatemalan authorities accuse the group of harboring and transporting hundreds of migrants to the United States over a period of several years.
Guatemalan Interior Minister Francisco Jimenez told The Associated Press that the arrests followed 13 raids in three of the country’s departments. Police also seized vehicles and cash and rescued other migrants during the operations, Guatemalan authorities said in a statement.
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