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San Antonio: Two suspects indicted after 51 migrants die in Texas truck swallow

June 29, 2022

In one of the deadliest human trafficking tragedies in recent history, dead migrants, 39 men and 12 women, were discovered Monday on the outskirts of San Antonio, Texas.

The two suspects, identified as Juan Francisco d’Luna-Bilbao and Juan Claudio D’Luna-Mendez, both Mexican citizens, were charged with illegally possessing firearms while in the United States, according to court documents and US officials. has gone.

Investigators traced the truck’s vehicle registration to an address in San Antonio, which they kept under surveillance, and arrested the two separately after each was seen leaving the residence.

A third suspect, described as a US citizen driving the truck, has also been taken into custody and was expected to be charged, but remained in hospital until Tuesday evening, according to a Mexican official.

Migrants have been found dead after being dumped in a tractor-trailer outside San Antonio.

The truck was parked next to some railroad tracks on the outskirts of San Antonio, where the temperature reached 39.4 Celsius. A local law enforcement official said the bodies were found inside the vehicle and scattered across a few blocks after the trailer’s rear door was opened. Reuters on Tuesday.

Local officials said there were no visible means of water or air-conditioning inside the truck. Officials said there were “piles of dead bodies” and that some migrants were hot to the touch.

“It’s inexplicable,” San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said. msnbc, given that their community depends on migrants when there is a labor shortage. “It is a tragedy beyond explanation.”

US President Joe Biden said in a statement on Tuesday that the incident was “horrifying and heartbreaking”.

“It is shameful to exploit vulnerable individuals for profit,” Biden said, cracking down on multi-billion dollar criminal smuggling enterprises that have driven record numbers of migrants across the US-Mexico border since taking office in January 2021. helped fuel the crossing.

investigation underway

According to officials in the three countries, at least 27 Mexicans, three Guatemalans and four Honduras are believed to be among the dead. There was no immediate information about the nationalities of the other victims.

More than a dozen survivors, including four minors, were taken to regional hospitals for heat stroke and exhaustion.

At a press conference outside one of the hospitals treating patients on Tuesday, Rebecca Clay-Flores, a Democratic local official in Bexar County, Texas, sharply criticized Republican Governor Greg Abbott for a tweet Monday night that The incident also blamed Biden’s border policies. As the emergency response unfolded.

“While bodies were still being removed, and others were being taken to local hospitals, they opted to be heartless and lift a finger,” Clay-Flores said.

A law enforcement official and a US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) official told of the investigation said the truck may have carried about 100 migrants, but the exact number is unclear.

The migrants appear to have recently crossed the border and were picked up by the truck where they will be working, according to a Mexican official, a CBP officer and another US official, all of whom met to discuss the matter. Requested anonymity.

Authorities were alerted to the truck via an emergency-911 call from a passerby for help by a migrant who escaped from the truck, officials said.

Victims were found sprayed with a pungent substance, officials said, a practice some smugglers have been known to use to disguise the smell of human cargo and avoid dog detection.

San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said Monday that a man working in a nearby building heard a cry for help, came out to investigate, found the trailer doors partially open and found several bodies inside.

The CBP officer and two other law enforcement officials said the remaining migrants would be released to the United States to pursue asylum or other forms of humanitarian relief. Reuters,

Some survivors of human trafficking in the past have been detained by the US Marshals Service for testifying as witnesses.

immigration challenges

The deaths highlighted the challenge of controlling migrant crossings for Biden, a Democrat who came into office to reverse some of the hard-line immigration policies of his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump. Republicans have criticized Biden’s border strategy ahead of midterm congressional elections in November.

According to Jack Staten, a former senior U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official, the I-35 highway, where the truck was found, runs from the Mexican border through San Antonio and is a popular smuggling corridor due to the large volume of truck traffic. Investigation Unit who retired in December.

In July 2017, 10 migrants died after being taken in a tractor-trailer discovered by San Antonio police in a Walmart parking lot. The driver, James Matthew Bradley Jr., was later sentenced to life in prison for his role in that smuggling operation.

“It was only a matter of time before a tragedy like this was going to happen again,” Staten said.