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A Guatemalan man has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for his role in a human smuggling operation that left 53 people dead inside a tractor-trailer in San Antonio in June 2022.
Rigoberto Ramon Miranda-Orozco, 39, helped arrange transportation and accommodations for migrants traveling from Guatemala through Mexico and into the United States. Two of his clients died in the tragedy, and a third suffered serious injuries.
Miranda-Orozco pleaded guilty in July to charges including conspiracy to bring a person into the United States resulting in death and aiding and abetting the entry of migrants resulting in death and serious bodily injury.
U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas Justin Simmons said Miranda-Orozco continued arranging smuggling trips after learning that people he had previously transported had died.
“He knew that the people he'd moved previously died in the back of that trailer, and he was already setting up other trips that he had just learned about,” Simmons said. “They don't care about your life; they only care about your money.”
The disaster unfolded on June 27, 2022, when authorities discovered a tractor-trailer carrying 64 migrants near Quintana Road in southwest San Antonio. The truck had traveled approximately 156 miles from Laredo to San Antonio in temperatures around 90 degrees Fahrenheit, with no functioning air conditioning inside the trailer.
First responders pronounced 48 people dead at the scene. Five others later died at the hospital, bringing the death toll to 53. The victims included six juveniles and at least one pregnant woman. Eleven survivors were injured.
A. Tysen Duva, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Criminal Division, said the scale of the operation required a large criminal network operating both inside and outside the United States.
“It is a miracle that 11 people survived somehow,” Duva said.
Duva said nine members of the smuggling organization have now been convicted in the United States, while another 10 have been convicted in Guatemala. Two leaders of the organization operating in Texas were sentenced last year to life in prison and 83 years in prison, respectively.
Miranda-Orozco was arrested in Guatemala in August 2024 as part of a coordinated law enforcement operation. He was extradited to the United States in March 2025 to face charges.
Homeland Security Investigations in San Antonio led the U.S. investigation, working with law enforcement partners in Guatemala and other federal, state and local agencies.
Joseph Tijerina, acting deputy special agent in charge of HSI San Antonio, said the sentence reflects an effort to hold people involved in international smuggling networks accountable, regardless of where they operate.
“There is no safe haven for those who would profit by exploiting and endangering others,” Tijerina said. “No matter where these criminal networks operate or how far they believe they can run, HSI and our law enforcement partners will pursue them, disrupt their operations, and work across the globe to bring them to justice.”
The case was prosecuted through Joint Task Force Alpha, a Justice Department initiative focused on investigating and prosecuting human smuggling and trafficking networks operating across the Americas.
