Two Men Are Sentenced in Smuggling Deaths of 53 Migrants in Texas
The defendants, Armando Gonzales-Ortega, 55, and Felipe Orduna-Torres, 30, were found guilty in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in March of conspiracy to transport undocumented immigrants resulting in death and related charges.
Mr. Orduna-Torres was sentenced on Friday to life in prison and Mr. Gonzales-Ortega was sentenced to 83 years in prison.
Three years ago to the day — June 27, 2022 — a worker for a paving company followed the sounds of screaming along a road on the outskirts of San Antonio and found a trailer full of migrants, many of whom were lifeless and some gasping for air.
The tractor-trailer was abandoned in a debris-filled area between train tracks and salvage yards on a day when the temperature reached more than 100 degrees.
The trailer did not have air-conditioning and migrants tried to claw their way out. Those who died were 'essentially cooking alive,' prosecutors said. Eleven people survived.
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