Eleven people were indicted this week for allegedly participating in a years-long human smuggling operation that resulted in the deaths of seven illegal migrants in May after they were trapped for hours inside an unvented cargo container in Texas.
Prosecutors claim the migrants were placed into the container near Del Rio before being transferred by train across the state. Six people were found dead inside it in Laredo, while a seventh was located near railroad tracks at the San Antonio station, according to investigators.
The victims — four Mexican nationals and three Honduran nationals — had no chance of escape because the container could not be opened from the inside, according to prosecutors.
“The ultimate destination for these aliens who began their journey in Del Rio was likely San Antonio. Once the train got to San Antonio, this alien smuggling organization that facilitated the movement of these individuals opened the train car doors,” U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons said at a press conference on Friday.
“There was one individual inside that then fell out of the car. They left that individual for dead there by the tracks in San Antonio, closed the door to the container and sent the train on its way, the train ultimately ending up in Laredo, Texas, where the other six bodies were found,” Simmons added.
One of the victims was a 14-year-old child, while another person inside the vehicle “frantically contacted their family as they were dying from the sweltering heat in that container,” Simmons added.
According to the indictment, the 11 defendants—four from the United States and seven from Mexico, Honduras, or Guatemala—allegedly managed a people smuggling enterprise from April 2023 to May 2026.
According to the indictment, the organization used cargo trains to transport migrants deeper into the United States once they had crossed the border.
Prosecutors claim that toward the end of April this year, the organization began supporting the travel of the seven migrants who later died in the shipping container.
According to the indictment, each victim paid between $1,500 and $10,000 to the traffickers to transport them from Acuña, Mexico, to the United States.
On the afternoon of May 9, the migrants arrived in Del Rio, where the smugglers allegedly used a bolt cutter to break the lock on a Conex shipping container that was aboard a stationary Union Pacific train, according to prosecutors.
According to investigators, once inside the container, the migrants encountered outdoor temperatures ranging from 88 to 92 degrees Fahrenheit.
The train went down US 90 to San Antonio, some 150 miles from Del Rio, where the traffickers apprehended the migrants and found them “in peril,” according to prosecutors.
According to the indictment, the traffickers who were present allegedly placed one of the migrants who had already died near the railroad tracks before dumping the remaining passengers inside the shipping container as it headed to Laredo.
The next day, a worker at the Union Pacific Railyard in Laredo noticed a leg protruding out of the container, which led to the discovery of the deceased migrants, according to the indictment.
Authorities in San Antonio later discovered the migrant’s body near the railroad tracks, according to prosecutors.
Nine of the 11 suspects charged with smuggling and migrant deaths have been captured and are currently in federal detention.
Mayra Alejandra Huerta, 32, of Del Rio, was the first person arrested on May 12.
Eight more individuals charged in the indictment were apprehended last week in central and south Texas as part of a Homeland Security Task Force operation.
Edson Alejandro Perez, 18, of Del Rio, and Eric Hernandez, 40, of Eagle Pass, Texas, were arrested while in the United States.
Another two Honduran offenders arrested were Jonas Ulloa-Aguilera, 25, and Franklin Williams Ayala Aguilera, 30.
Three more were from Mexico: Maria Norma Neri de Moran, 56; Damian Huerta Analucas, 55; and Rosario Cristal Lopez-Saldana, 26.
Finally, Pascual Raymundo Loarca, 34, of Guatemala, was arrested during the Homeland Security operation.
Two of the accused remain at large: 37-year-old Karina Garcia of Del Rio and 35-year-old Seferino Huerta-Casillas of Mexico.
All of the defendants were charged with one count of conspiracy to transport illegal aliens resulting in death, as well as one count of aiding and abetting illegal alien transportation resulting in death. They face up to life in prison.
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