Eleven people were charged July 24 for their alleged connection to the gruesome deaths of seven illegal immigrants who died from extreme heat inside a train container in May during a human smuggling operation in Texas.
Six of the Mexican and Honduran immigrants were found dead at a rail yard in Laredo, Texas, on May 10, including a 14-year-old, according to authorities.
An investigation into the train yard deaths revealed the smuggling operation started in April. The first part of the plan was to cross the migrants from Acuna, Mexico, into Del Rio, Texas.
“Each of these individuals paid anywhere from $1,500 to $10,000 to be brought across by this alien smuggling organization only to die in this sweltering Texas heat,” Simmons said.
Sometime around May 9, after the smugglers allegedly illegally crossed over the seven migrants, they transported them to an area near the Union Pacific train tracks in Del Rio, according to prosecutors.
While the train was stopped, the smugglers allegedly used bolt cutters to cut open a lock on a shipping container, loaded the illegal immigrants into the box, and shut the door, prosecutors said.
The unventilated container was then stacked on top of another, according to officials. Temperatures outside reached 92 degrees Fahrenheit that day, investigators said.
The container was locked from the outside and couldn’t be opened by the hidden immigrants, prosecutors said.
The train then departed Del Rio and traveled east along U.S. Highway 90 to San Antonio, Texas, which prosecutors believe was the immigrants’ intended destination.
When the train arrived, however, the smugglers allegedly opened the container door and one of the dead bodies fell out and onto the ground, Simmons said. The smugglers allegedly fled the scene, leaving the body near the railroad tracks.
The train left the next day for Laredo, Texas.
On May 10, a Union Pacific Rail Yard worker in Laredo, Texas, saw a leg sticking out of the shipping container. After further inspection, the six remaining immigrants were found dead inside the container, according to prosecutors.
Simmons said his message to anyone thinking of paying smugglers to come across the border illegally was “don’t.”
Mayra Alejandra Huerta, 32, of Del Rio, was arrested May 12 in Del Rio, Texas, and charged with one count of harboring illegal aliens. She remains in federal custody and faces two additional charges of conspiracy to transport illegal aliens resulting in death and one count of aiding and abetting transport of illegal aliens resulting in death.
Last week, eight other defendants were arrested over a multi-day operation across central and south Texas and were also charged with one count of aiding and abetting transport of illegal aliens resulting in death and one count of conspiracy to transport illegal aliens resulting in death.
Those arrested were Edson Alejandro Perez, 18, of Del Rio; Jonas Ulloa-Aguilera, 25, of Honduras; Maria Norma Neri de Moran, 56, of Mexico; Danian Huerta Analuca, 55, of Mexico; Rosario Cristal Lopez-Saldana, 26, of Mexico; Eric Hernandez, 40, of Eagle Pass, Texas; Franklin Williams Ayala Aguilera, 30, of Honduras; and Pascual Raymundo Loarca, 34, of Guatemala.
Two defendants—Karina Garcia, 37, of Del Rio, and Seferino Huerta-Casillas, 35, of Mexico—are still at large but also face the same counts related to the deaths.
If convicted, the defendants would face a maximum penalty of life in prison for each count.
