Smugglers Get Decades In Prison For Killing 53 Migrants In Truck

Two smugglers convicted of federal charges in connection with the deaths of 53 migrants found in the back of a sweltering tractor-trailer in Texas in 2022 were sentenced to decades in prison on Friday.

Felipe Orduna-Torres, 32, and Armando Gonzales-Ortega, 55, are to be the first of several defendants sentenced in the San Antonio tragedy, which remains the nation’s deadliest human smuggling attempt across the U.S.-Mexico border. In March, a jury deliberated for only about an hour before convicting the men of being part of a human smuggling conspiracy that resulted in death and injury.

Orduna-Torres, who prosecutors described as the leader of the smuggling operation, was given two life sentences and an additional 20 years on a third count to be served consecutively, according to CBS affiliate KENS. Gonzales-Ortega was sentenced to 87.5 years in prison. Prosecutors had described Gonzales-Ortega as Orduna-Torres’ top assistant.

Both men were also fined $250,000.

The 64 immigrants inside the truck had come from Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico and had paid between $12,000 and $15,000 each to be smuggled into the United States, according to an indictment in the case. They had made it as far as the Texas border city of Laredo when they were placed into a tractor-trailer with broken air conditioning for a three-hour drive to San Antonio.

As the temperature rose inside the trailer, those inside screamed and banged the walls of the trailer for help or tried to claw their way out, investigators said. Most eventually passed out. When the trailer was opened in San Antonio, 48 people were already dead. Another 16 were taken to hospitals, where five more died. The dead included six children and a pregnant woman. Only 11 people inside the vehicle survived.