Texas immigrant smuggler who killed 53 pleads guilty
A Texas truck driver accused of killing 53 migrants has pleaded guilty in 2022 to the country’s deadliest smuggling attempt at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Homero Zamorano Jr. pleaded guilty in federal court in San Antonio to conspiracy to transport aliens resulting in death, causing serious bodily injury and endangering life; One count of transportation of foreigners resulting in death; And number one is transporting aliens that cause serious injury and endanger life.
The 48-year-old faces a maximum sentence of life in prison, the Justice Department said. Zamorano is scheduled to be sentenced on April 24.
Zamorano’s attorney, Mark Stevens, said in an email that he could not comment on a pending case.
The man is an illegal immigrant with the explosion arrested near La Fares: Snow Springs.
A makeshift memorial was erected after dozens of illegal immigrants were found dead in a tractor trailer. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
Authorities said Zamorano, who drove the truck, and others charged in the smuggling attempt knew the trailer’s air conditioning unit had malfunctioned and was not blowing cold air for the stranded migrants during the three-hour delay from the border. City of Laredo to San Antonio.
Temperatures reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius), investigators said, as refugees screamed and pounded on the walls of the trailer for help or tried to block the way out.
The truck was packed with 67 people, 27 of the dead were from Mexico, 14 from Honduras, seven from Guatemala and two from El Salvador, Mexican officials said. Prosecutors say the migrants paid $15,000 each to be taken to the US border.
The incident took place on June 27, 2022, on a remote back street in San Antonio. Police officers arrested Zamorano after he spotted him hiding in nearby brush, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. A search of Zamorano’s cell phone turned up calls regarding the smuggling trip.
Surveillance video of the 18-wheeler going through a Border Patrol checkpoint showed the driver matched Zamorano’s description, according to the lawsuit.
Also previously charged in the crash was Texas resident Christian Martinez, who was arrested along with Zamorano shortly after the migrants were found. Martinez pleaded guilty to charges related to human trafficking.
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Law enforcement surrounded a tractor trailer where dozens of illegal immigrants were found dead. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
In 2023, four Mexican nationals were also arrested in the case. And in August, a suspect was arrested in Guatemala and charged with coordinating the smuggling attempt. U.S. authorities say they want to extradite Rigoberto Roman Miranda Orozco, who is charged with six counts of smuggling illegal immigrants resulting in death or serious injury. Authorities say he was in contact with four Guatemalan immigrants in the trailer, three of whom are dead and face life in prison if convicted.
According to the indictment against Miranda Orozco, the traffickers forced the migrants to give up their cell phones before they got into the trailer, leaving them with no way to get help. An unknown powder was scattered around the trailer to avoid detection by patrol dogs at border checkpoints.
48 refugees died when the trailer opened in San Antonio. Sixteen other people were taken to hospitals and five more people died. President Joe Biden called the tragedy “horrific and heartbreaking.”
The dead want a better life. News of the trailer was terrifying in towns and villages in Central America and Mexico, where young people are accustomed to fleeing poverty or violence.
Authorities said the individuals smuggled people in Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico and were using common roads, trailers, caches, 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 covers up to three attempts to enter the US.
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It is one of the deadliest in recent decades, killing thousands of people trying to cross the US border from Mexico. In the year In 2017, 10 immigrants died after being trapped inside a truck parked at a San Antonio Walmart. In the year In 2003, the bodies of 19 immigrants were found in a pickup truck southeast of San Antonio.