Two Men Face Life Sentences in Deadly Texas Migrant Smuggling Case That Killed 53

Body bags lie at the scene where a tractor trailer with multiple dead bodies was discovered, Monday, June 27, 2022, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay,Fil

Two men convicted in connection with one of the deadliest human smuggling tragedies in U.S. history are set to be sentenced on Friday, facing up to life in prison for their roles in the deaths of 53 migrants found in the back of a sweltering tractor-trailer in Texas in 2022.

Felipe Orduna-Torres and Armando Gonzales-Ortega were found guilty in March on federal charges of participating in a human smuggling conspiracy that resulted in death and serious injury. The sentencing in San Antonio marks the first for several individuals charged in the case.

Federal prosecutors identified Orduna-Torres as the leader of the U.S.-based smuggling operation and Gonzales-Ortega as his top associate. The indictment revealed that the men were part of an international smuggling network that coordinated with operatives in Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala, using shared routes, stash houses, and vehicles to move migrants across the border.

The victims, who had paid between $12,000 and $15,000 each for the journey to the U.S., were loaded into a tractor-trailer with a malfunctioning air conditioning system in Laredo, Texas, for what became a fatal three-hour trip to San Antonio in extreme heat.

As temperatures soared inside the trailer, desperate passengers screamed, pounded the walls, and attempted to escape. By the time authorities discovered the vehicle on the outskirts of San Antonio, 48 migrants had already perished. Sixteen others were rushed to hospitals, where five more later died. The victims included six children and a pregnant woman.

Orduna-Torres coordinated the pickup location in Laredo, where Gonzales-Ortega helped facilitate the transport. The case revealed the breadth of the smuggling operation, which exploited vulnerable individuals seeking a better life, subjecting them to dangerous and inhumane conditions.

Truck driver Homero Zamorano Jr., who was found hiding near the trailer, is among five other defendants who have pleaded guilty to related charges. Zamorano is expected to be sentenced in December and also faces a possible life sentence. Sentencing for the remaining co-conspirators is scheduled for later this year.

This tragedy stands as the deadliest human smuggling incident in U.S. history and one of several fatal events that have claimed hundreds of migrant lives in recent decades. In similar cases, ten people died in 2017 after being trapped in a truck parked outside a Walmart in San Antonio, and 19 bodies were found in a trailer in 2003 in the same region.