This story has been updated.
Four more men have been arrested in connection with the deaths of 53 human smuggling victims who were found a year ago in Southwest San Antonio, officials said Tuesday.
The additional arrests have been tied to a human-smuggling organization that officials allege was responsible for the deaths of the migrants, some of whom were discovered in the back of an abandoned, sweltering tractor-trailer on June 27, 2022.
Riley Covarrubias-Ponce, Felipe Orduna-Torres, Luis Alberto Rivera-Leal and Armando Gonzales-Ortega, all of Mexico, were arrested Monday on suspicion of facilitating the transportation of the migrants by allegedly obtaining an 18-wheeler and handing it off to the driver, Hector Zamorano, who was indicted in July. The four additional arrests happened in San Antonio, Houston and Marshall, Texas.
At a press conference Tuesday at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas in San Antonio, officials said the men face four charges each, including conspiracy to transport migrants illegally resulting in death; conspiracy to transport migrants resulting in serious bodily injury and placing lives in jeopardy; transportation of migrants resulting in death; and transportation of migrants resulting in serious bodily injury and placing lives in jeopardy.
They each face life in prison if convicted.
The indictment stated that the smuggling operation kept some trucks at a private parking lot in San Antonio and used routes through the city and in other areas in South Texas to transport migrants into the country through the southern U.S. border.
According to the indictment, the smugglers went by nicknames like “Rilay,” “Cholo,” “Cowboy” and “El Don,” and and are alleged to have transported people from Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico.
The indictment alleges that Orduna-Torres provided the pickup address to Christian Martinez, who was indicted last July.
Martinez drove Zamorano from Palestine to a gas station in San Antonio, where Zamorano picked up the empty 18-wheeler in which the migrants ultimately died, according to the indictment. Zamorano then allegedly drove to Laredo, where he picked up the migrants. The indictment says the smugglers gave each person a code, indicating the migrant was a “customer” of a specific member of the ring at certain points of the journey.
According to the indictment, Gonzales-Ortega met Zamorano at the pick-up point in Laredo and ordered the group of at least 66 migrants to give up their phones before getting in the truck. The indictment also alleged that the smugglers dispensed an “unknown powder” in the truck involved in the incident to mask the smell of people to get through border patrol checkpoints.
Zamorano, followed by Gonzales-Ortega, then drove the 18-wheeler along Interstate 35 into San Antonio and updated the other smugglers of their progress through text messages, the indictment read.
The smugglers knew the air conditioning unit in the trailer did not work, the indictment stated. When they arrived to the designated unloading location on Quintana Road, the drivers opened the doors to the 18-wheeler and found that at least 48 of the migrants were either already dead or had died inside the truck, including a pregnant woman, the indictment states. The death count later rose to 53 people.
According to officials, the smuggling ring shared routes, stash houses, trucks and other resources to consolidate their costs, minimize their risks and maximize their profit. The indictment said the ring charged each migrant between $12,000 to $15,000 for transportation into the U.S.
“The allegations in this indictment are horrifying. Dozens of desperate, vulnerable men, women and children put their trust in smugglers who abandoned them in a trailer to perish in the merciless Texas heat,” said Jaime Esparza, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas.
The indictment said that some of the people in the back of the truck attempted to escape, and some passed out while trying.
“As alleged, these smugglers’ knowledge and their criminal acts led to dangerous temperatures in that vehicle,” Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite Jr. said. “As the temperatures rose, those people banged, they scratched, they clawed, and they yelled out for their humanity. Fifty-three lives lost.”
Smuggling operations prey on the vulnerability of migrants desperate to make it to the U.S., the officials explained.
“Not to play the blame game, but we’ve known this is a problem in years past, yet here we are still,” Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said.
Salazar said his message to migrants is: “Don’t make the trip. It’s dangerous. You’re just going to put [yourself] at risk with these coyotes. We’re working with D.C. to try to come up with a better solution, but in the meantime, stay where you are because you’re going to end up getting hurt or killed.”
RAICES, an immigrant legal service nonprofit, said the anniversary of the deaths is a reminder that national immigration reform is needed.
“Tragedy follows cruelty — the cruelty of a system designed to keep people out,” said Dolores Schroeder, CEO of RAICES. “Let’s remember the 53 lives lost on June 27, 2022, and honor their memory by calling on our communities and elected officials to take urgent action to guarantee a compassionate, fair and just immigration system.”
Two other suspects were arrested in connection with the incident days after the tragedy: Juan Claudio D’Luna-Mendez and Juan Francisco D’Luna-Bilbao, whose license plates were traced at the scene. They were ultimately charged with possession of a firearm while unlawfully present in the United States.
The four suspects arrested on Monday will appear in court on Sept. 11.
At the site where officials found the abandoned 18-wheeler, 53 crosses form a memorial that honors each person who died.
“The people that passed away were people. They had families. Their families were, in many cases, wondering when they would get the call that they made it. They were trying to seek a better life,” San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said Tuesday in an interview with the San Antonio Report.
The deaths of the 53 migrants was a “devastating moment” for San Antonio, he said. Nirenberg added that he wants to see a permanent memorial for the victims established before the end of his final term.
“The scale of that tragedy was almost unfathomable. It happened here in our city, and for a moment in time, they were here in San Antonio, under our sky,” he said. “To remember them and to honor their lives in the midst of that tragedy is important.”
