A Texas truck driver charged with killing 53 immigrants while traveling in a sweltering tractor-trailer without air conditioning pleaded guilty on Thursday to the 2022 tragedy that became the backdrop for a cross-U.S. The deadliest smuggling attempt on the Mexican border.
Homero Zamorano Jr. pleaded guilty in federal court in San Antonio to one count of conspiracy to transport an alien causing death, serious bodily injury and endangering life; one count of transporting an alien causing death; One count of transporting an alien causing serious bodily injury endangering life.
The Justice Department announced that the 48-year-old man could face up to life in prison. Zamorano is scheduled to be sentenced on April 24.
Zamorano's attorney, Mark Stevens, said in an email that he could not comment on pending cases.
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A makeshift memorial has been erected after dozens of illegal immigrants were found dead in tractor trailers. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
Authorities said Zamorano, who drove the truck and the other men charged in the smuggling attempt, knew the trailer's air-conditioning unit had malfunctioned and were unable to deliver air to those trapped inside during the sweltering three-hour journey from the border. Immigrants blow air conditioning. Laredo to San Antonio.
Investigators said temperatures reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) and the migrants were screaming, banging on the walls of the trailers for help or trying to climb out.
According to Mexican authorities, the truck was carrying 67 people, and the dead included 27 Mexicans, 14 Hondurans, 7 Guatemalans and 2 Salvadorans. Prosecutors say migrants pay up to $15,000 each to be taken across the U.S. border.
The incident occurred on June 27, 2022, on a remote trail in San Antonio. Police took Zamorano into custody after finding him hiding in nearby bushes, a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office said. A search of Zamorano's phone revealed he had received calls about smuggling activity.
Surveillance video of the 18-wheeler passing through a Border Patrol checkpoint showed the driver matched Zamorano's description, the indictment said.
Previously charged in the tragedy was Christian Martinez, also from Texas, who was arrested along with Zamorano shortly after the migrants were discovered. Martinez has since pleaded guilty to trafficking-related charges.
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Law enforcement surrounded the tractor-trailer and found dozens of illegal immigrants dead. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
In 2023, four Mexican citizens were also arrested in the case. In August, a suspect arrested in Guatemala was accused of helping coordinate the smuggling attempt. U.S. authorities said they would seek the extradition of Rigoberto Roman Miranda Orozco, who is charged with six counts of migrant smuggling resulting in death or serious injury. Authorities claimed he was linked to four Guatemalan immigrants in the trailer, three of whom died, and he faces life in prison if convicted.
According to the indictment against Miranda Orozco, smugglers forced migrants to hand over their cellphones before entering the trailers, preventing them from calling for help. An unknown powder was sprinkled around the trailer to prevent patrol dogs at border checkpoints from picking up the scent of human cargo.
By the time the trailers were opened in San Antonio, 48 migrants were dead. Sixteen more people were taken to hospital and five died. President Joe Biden called the tragedy "horrible and heartbreaking."
Those who died were seeking a better life. News of the trailers laden with bodies caused panic in cities and villages accustomed to seeing young people leaving, trying to escape poverty or violence in Central America and Mexico.
Authorities said the men were involved in human smuggling operations in Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico and shared routes, guides, stash houses, trucks and trailers, some of which were stored in a private parking lot in San Antonio.
Migrants pay the organization up to $15,000 each to be taken across the border. The fee will cover up to three attempts to enter the United States
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The incident was the deadliest tragedy in recent decades that has killed thousands of people as people tried to cross the U.S. border from Mexico. In 2017, ten immigrants died after becoming trapped in a truck parked at a Walmart in San Antonio. In 2003, the bodies of 19 immigrants were found in a sweltering truck in southeast San Antonio.