DOJ Shuts Down Human Smuggling Operation That Led to 53 Deaths in Texas

Guatemalan Rigoberto Miranda-Orozco. faces six counts of smuggling illegal immigrants resulting in injury and death, with a maximum sentence of life in prison.

People place flowers and candles at a makeshift memorial where a tractor-trailer was discovered with deceased illegal immigrants inside, near San Antonio, Texas, on June 29, 2022. Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images

A Department of Justice (DOJ) task force take-down of a human smuggling operation in Guatemala on Wednesday has led to 14 arrests.

The human smuggling operation transported people from Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico into the United States between 2021 and 2022.