2 Mexican nationals found guilty in deadliest human smuggling event in US history
Felipe Orduna-Torres and Armando Gonzales-Ortega now face life in prison. Their sentencing will be on June 27, the three-year anniversary of the crime, FOX 29 reports.
The two were charged after 53 immigrants died in the back of a sweltering tractor trailer with no air conditioning in San Antonio back in 2022. Sixty-seven illegal immigrants, including children, were found trapped in the semitrailer that had been abandoned on the side of the road after being smuggled across the border.
Jurors in federal court in San Antonio took only about an hour to convict Orduna-Torres and Gonzales-Ortega, finding that they were part of a human smuggling conspiracy that resulted in death and injury. The trial lasted two weeks.
"It's the same day 53 persons died," the judge presiding over the trial said about the sentencing date, according to FOX 29. "Your liberty, if any, will be determined on that same date."
The migrants included 27 from Mexico, 14 from Honduras, seven from Guatemala and two from El Salvador. The dead included six children and a pregnant woman, according to The Associated Press. They had paid between $12,000 and $15,000 each to be smuggled into the United States, according to an indictment in the case obtained by the AP.
Orduna-Torres was described as one of the leaders of the smuggling operation and Gonzales-Ortega as the coordinator.
A jury found both guilty of all charges: conspiracy to transport aliens resulting in death, causing serious bodily injury and placing lives in jeopardy; transportation of illegal aliens resulting in death; and transportation of illegal aliens causing serious bodily injury and placing lives in jeopardy.
Five men previously pleaded guilty to felony charges in the smuggling case, including the truck driver Homero Zamorano Jr., who was found hiding near the trailer in some bushes. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. Also pleading guilty are Christian Martinez, Luis Alberto Rivera-Leal, Riley Covarrubias-Ponce and Juan Francisco D'Luna Bilbao. All five will be sentenced later this year. Another person charged in the U.S. remains a fugitive, Leachman said. Several others have been charged in Mexico and Guatemala.
"This case exemplifies why we all must pay attention. Human smuggling is dehumanizing. It's dangerous and it can be deadly. Smuggling victims are often subject to rape, kidnapping, extortion, exploitation and more. It will not stand. Our resolve in tackling these crimes will not waver," Matthew Gagliotti, Acting Head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, said, according to FOX 29.
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