SAN ANTONIO – Federal officials on Thursday announced the indictment of a Guatemalan national who they say helped coordinate a human smuggling effort that ended with 53 migrants dead and 11 injured in a sweltering tractor-trailer in San Antonio.
Rigoberto Román Mirando Orozco is charged with six counts of migrant smuggling resulting in death or serious injury, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas Jaime Esparza said at a news conference in San Antonio.
Authorities alleged Mirando Orozco can be connected to four of migrants in the trailer, three of whom died.
“This was a complex operation and a major success for the progression of this case — apprehending a key orchestrator of the horrendous smuggling operations in which families were charged thousands of dollars for trusted transport across the U.S. border from Guatemala and other countries,” Esparza said. “This significant development in the case demonstrates the commitment of this office, the Department of Justice, and our partners at all necessary levels, to ensure all 53 migrants who died in the 2022 tractor-trailer tragedy get their justice.”
Guatemalan police on Wednesday said they arrested Mirando Orozco and six other Guatemalans in the case.
Interior Minister Francisco Jiménez told The Associated Press the arrests were made possible after 13 raids in three of the country’s departments.
“This is a collaborative effort between the Guatemalan police and Homeland Security, in addition to other national agencies, to dismantle the structures of human trafficking, one of the strategic objectives of the government President Bernardo Arévalo in order to take on the phenomenon of irregular migration,” Jiménez said.
The incident on June 27, 2022, was deemed one of the worst human smuggling tragedies in recent history. A large group of migrants were found trapped inside a tractor-trailer on a hot summer day with no water, no air conditioning and no way out on Quintana Road on the South Side.
Several people have been arrested in connection with the incident.
Luis Alberto Rivera-Leal, also known as “Cowboy,” pleaded guilty in February to one count of conspiracy to transport aliens placing lives in jeopardy, federal officials said. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
Authorities said Rivera-Leal was part of an organization that smuggled adults and children from Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico to San Antonio. He would then drive smaller groups to Houston.
On that fateful June day, the organization coordinated the transport of a group of migrants in a tractor-trailer from Laredo to San Antonio.
The group was smuggled through Interstate 35 and the truck ultimately stopped in the 9600 block of Quintana Road, where the migrants were found.
Riley Covarrubias-Ponce, 31; Christian Martinez, 29; and Juan Francisco D’Luna Bilbao have pleaded guilty to four charges, including one count of conspiracy to transport illegal aliens resulting in death; one count of conspiracy to transport aliens resulting in serious bodily injury and placing lives in jeopardy; one count of transportation of illegal aliens resulting in death; and one count of transportation of illegal aliens resulting in serious bodily injury and placing lives in jeopardy.
The driver of the truck, 47-year-old Homero Zamorano Jr. has a case pending. Other co-defendants Felipe Orduna-Torres, 29, and Armando Gonzales-Ortega, 54, also have cases pending.
Covarrubias-Ponce, Orduna-Torres and others allegedly exchanged the names of the migrants who were smuggled in the tractor-trailer load before the incident occurred, a previous news release states. They allegedly orchestrated the “retrieval” of the tractor-trailer before handing it off to Zamorano, officials said.
Editor’s Note: The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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