Guatemalan police announced on Wednesday that they arrested seven people in connection to the deadly human smuggling attempt in San Antonio in 2022.
Fifty three migrants died in a sweltering tractor trailer. Eleven others were injured.
Guatemala's Interior Minister posted on social media that the arrests included the alleged ringleader of the smuggling group, "Los Orozcos."
Federal prosecutors say Rigoberto Miranda Orozco allegedly secured payment from Guatemalan migrants and worked with co-conspirators to smuggle them out of the country.
Jaime Esparza, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas, said the federal government is pursing Orozco's extradition.
"We will prosecute Miranda Orozco as aggressively as possible as we seek justice for those who perished and for those who were injured," Esparza said.
Orozco faces six counts all related to migrant smuggling resulting in death or serious bodily injury.
Several defendants who were previously arrested in connection to the case have either pleaded guilty or have cases pending.
In late June 2022, dozens of men, women and children from Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and other nations were found trapped in the tractor trailer on Quintana Road in Southwest San Antonio.
San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said at the time that a worker at a nearby facility heard a person crying for help and found the trailer with numerous dead inside.
San Antonino Fire Chief Charles Hood said they were hot to the touch and suffering from heat exhaustion. “No signs of water in the vehicle, it was a refrigerated tractor trailer, but there was no visible working AC unit on that rig,” he added. Temperatures in San Antonio at the time regularly exceeded 100 degrees.
A memorial of painted crosses was erected alongside Quintana Road to remember the 53 lives lost, next to a mural that listed the vicitms' names.
Since the incident, dozens more people have been found trapped in similar predicaments — tractor trailers, train cars or other vehicles — and almost all also dealing with severe and life threatening heat.
The arrests announced this week followed several other arrests and indictments in the case in the two years since the incident.
