human smuggling

U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia sentenced Felipe Orduña-Torres to two life sentences and Armando Gonzales-Ortega to more than 80 years in prison. Orduña-Torres was described by prosecutors as the leader of the smuggling operation and Gonzales-Ortega was his assistant.

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 in 2022.

Felipe Orduña-Torres and Armando Gonzales-Ortega are charged with conspiracy to transport illegal migrants resulting in death. Fifty-three immigrants died after being trapped inside a sweltering tractor-trailer. It was the deadliest human smuggling attempt in modern U.S. history. Eleven others were injured.

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar announced the arrest of a Laredo man suspected of smuggling 52 migrants in three separate cases.

Thousands of people have been arrested under Texas’ human smuggling law. Now they face at least a decade in prison under sentencing guidelines that took effect this year.

The truck had been packed with at least 160 migrants when it crashed into a support for a pedestrian bridge in the Mexican state of Chiapas.

Seven people were arrested and charged.

Mauro de la Tierra, Adrian De La Cruz, and Andrea Rivas will work on the piece, which should be finished before mid-February and installed at Mission County Park.

Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 4 into law Tuesday. It will go into effect in February.

Social media and direct messaging apps, like WhatsApp, have become a major asset in the lucrative business of human smuggling.