SAN ANTONIO – A federal jury found two men accused in the 2022 migrant smuggling tragedy along Quintana Road in San Antonio guilty on Tuesday afternoon.
Armando Gonzales-Ortega, the alleged coordinator, and Felipe Orduna-Torres, a leader and organizer in the incident were found guilty on the same three charges: conspiracy to transport aliens resulting in death, causing serious bodily injury and placing lives in jeopardy.
>> TIMELINE: Developments in 2022 San Antonio migrant smuggling tragedy that left 53 dead
The trial started on March 4 for Gonzales-Ortega and Orduna-Torres for their involvement in the deadliest case of human trafficking incident in U.S. history.
Authorities found 67 migrants on June 27, 2022, inside a sweltering semitrailer on Quintana Road on the Southwest Side.
Initially, the death toll was 48, but it rose to 53 by June 29, with victims succumbing to heat-related injuries. One of the 53 victims killed was pregnant.
The migrants traveled from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, according to Mexico’s National Immigration Institute.
During a Tuesday afternoon news conference, Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Fuchs said another suspect in connection with the Quintana Road tragedy was extradited from Guatemala to San Antonio last Friday.
The suspect, who Fuchs and the Department of Justice identified as 48-year-old Rigoberto Miranda-Orozco, appeared in court on Monday. Fuchs said he is expected to attend his first detention hearing on Thursday.
Miranda-Orozco is accused of recruiting four Guatemalans to the semitrailer. Three of them died in the migrant tragedy.
Both Orduna-Torres and Gonzales-Ortega could face up to life in prison. Their sentencing date will be June 27, the third anniversary of the tragedy.
Closing arguments
After the judge read the charges to the jury on Tuesday morning, closing arguments began with the prosecution.
Fuchs, the lead prosecutor, described the evidence in this case to jurors as “overwhelming.”
“When the goal is hiding illegal immigrants, you know you are doing something illegal,” Fuchs told the court.
Fuchs outlined the suspects' alleged meticulous planning, suggesting to jurors that they coordinated the 2022 migrant transport two weeks in advance.
“All the prior times — all the prior trips — all the prior actions inform you of what they were doing," Fuchs said.
The prosecution’s closing arguments concluded just before noon on Tuesday.
Defense attorney E.R. Bàez accused the prosecution of making its case with a lack of “forensics.”
“They don’t have any evidence,” Bàez told the court. “They don’t have anything that will put them unequivocally at this location.”
‘I was told not to ask any questions’
During testimony on March 7, co-conspirator Juan D’Luna Bilbao told the jury that before June 27, 2022, he told Jose Martinez Olivera, a leader of the organization, that the semitrailer’s cooling system was failing.
Bilbao, who has taken a plea deal for his role, said he was asked if he could get someone to fix it. He said yes, but not anytime soon.
Three days later, on June 27, 2022, Bilbao testified that Orduna-Torres called him early in the morning and instructed him to drop off the truck at a gas station at Interstate 35 and Loop 410.
Bilbao said he was specifically told to take the red truck with a malfunctioning cooling system instead of a working white truck because “the white one was smaller, but the red one was 53 feet long.”
When asked why he did not bring up the faulty cooling system, Bilbao said, “I was told not to ask any questions.”
Later that day, Bilbao said Orduna-Torres called him again, saying that something was not working and they had to make stops before hanging up on him.
Bilbao only learned of the deaths on Quintana Road from another co-conspirator later that evening.
Bilbao was arrested the same day authorities found the semitrailer, as it was registered to his home in San Antonio.
Homero Zamorano Jr., identified as the driver of the semitrailer, was arrested not far from the scene. Zamorano was found hiding in the brush, authorities said. He has since taken a plea deal.
Earlier in the trial, during testimony, new information revealed that 64 migrants were being transported in the tractor-trailer from Laredo.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Fuchs said the immigrants were “essentially cooked” inside the semitrailer.
Fuchs also revealed a sophisticated human smuggling organization that had been operating for at least eight months before the Quintana Road tragedy.
The operation brought in over a dozen transports from Laredo to San Antonio, and immigrants paid up to $15,000 per person.
