Guatemalan man sentenced to 30 years for smuggling tragedy that killed 53 people in Texas

A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced a Guatemalan man extradited to the US over his role in a 2022 human smuggling attempt that ended in the deaths of 53 migrants who had been transported in a sweltering tractor-trailer in Texas.

US and Guatemalan prosecutors called Rigoberto Román Miranda-Orozco’s sentencing another step toward justice in one of the deadliest smuggling attempts along the US-Mexico border. Miranda-Orozco, 39, was sentenced to 30 years in prison after admitting to arranging travel and accommodations for two people who died and another who was seriously injured.

Nearly 20 people in the US and Guatemala have been convicted since the discovery of the abandoned trailer full of bodies horrified communities accustomed to seeing their young people leave , trying to flee poverty or violence in Central America and Mexico.

“It was clear that they suffered tremendously in their last few hours on this earth,” US Attorney Justin Simmons told reporters at a news conference following the sentencing.

The trailer’s air conditioning malfunctioned and would not blow cool air to the people trapped inside during the sweltering, three-hour ride in June 2022 from the border city of Laredo to San Antonio, authorities said. Prosecutors have said migrants paid up to $15,000 each to be taken across the US border.

When the abandoned trailer was opened on a remote San Antonio back road, 48 migrants were dead. Another 16 were taken to hospitals, where five more died.

Simmons said investigators found clothing passengers had shed to cool off and claw marks on the trailer’s walls.

“They were literally trying to claw their way out,” he said.

Twenty-one of those who died were from Guatemala, Simmons said.

US District Judge Orlando Garcia sentenced Miranda-Orozco, who was arrested in Guatemala in 2024 and extradited to the US the following year.

He pleaded guilty in July to conspiracy to bring a migrant into the US resulting in death, aiding and abetting bringing a migrant into the US resulting in death, as well as aiding and abetting bringing a migrant into the US resulting in serious bodily injury, prosecutors said.

Simmons said prosecutors in Guatemala were integral in securing convictions for Miranda Orozco and others. Guatemalan Attorney Gabriel García Luna attended Tuesday’s news conference in Texas.

Last year, Felipe Orduna-Torres, described by prosecutors as the leader of the smuggling operations inside the US, was sentenced to life in prison in the US. Armando Gonzales-Ortega, his top assistant, was sentenced to 83 years.

Sentencing dates have been set for more people, including the truck’s driver .

The tragedy is the deadliest among those that have claimed thousands of lives in recent decades as people attempt to cross the U.S. border from Mexico. Ten migrants died in 2017 after they were trapped inside a truck parked at a Walmart in San Antonio.

In 2003, the bodies of 19 migrants were found in a sweltering truck southeast of San Antonio.

周二，一名联邦法官对一名被引渡到美国的危地马拉男子判刑，该男子因参与 2022 年的一起人口走私未遂事件而被判刑，该事件导致 53 名移民死亡，他们当时被装在德克萨斯州一辆闷热的拖车里运输。

美国和危地马拉检察官称，里戈韦托·罗曼·米兰达-奥罗兹科的判刑是伸张正义的又一步，这起案件是美墨边境最致命的走私案之一。39岁的米兰达-奥罗兹科承认安排了两名死者和一名重伤者的旅行和住宿，被判处30年监禁。

自发现装满尸体的废弃拖车以来，美国和危地马拉已有近 20 人被定罪。这起事件震惊了当地社区，他们早已习惯看到自己的年轻人离开家乡，试图逃离中美洲和墨西哥的贫困或暴力。

“很明显，他们在生命的最后几个小时里遭受了巨大的痛苦，”美国检察官贾斯汀·西蒙斯在宣判后的新闻发布会上告诉记者。

据当局称，2022年6月，这辆拖车的空调发生故障，无法为被困在车厢内的人们提供凉爽的空气。当时，从边境城市拉雷多到圣安东尼奥的三个小时车程酷热难耐。检察官表示，移民们每人支付高达1.5万美元的费用才得以越过美国边境。

在圣安东尼奥一条偏僻的乡间小路上，当人们打开那辆被遗弃的拖车时，发现里面有48名移民已经死亡。另有16人被送往医院，其中5人死亡。

西蒙斯说，调查人员发现了乘客为了降温而脱下的衣物，以及拖车墙壁上的爪痕。

他说：“他们简直是在拼命挣扎着想逃出去。”

西蒙斯说，死者中有21人来自危地马拉。

美国地区法官奥兰多·加西亚判处米兰达-奥罗兹科有罪，他于 2024 年在危地马拉被捕，并于次年被引渡到美国。

检察官称，他于 7 月认罪，罪名包括共谋将移民带入美国导致死亡、协助和教唆将移民带入美国导致死亡，以及协助和教唆将移民带入美国导致严重人身伤害。

西蒙斯表示，危地马拉检察官在确保米兰达·奥罗兹科等人被定罪方面发挥了至关重要的作用。危地马拉律师加布里埃尔·加西亚·卢纳出席了周二在德克萨斯州举行的新闻发布会。

去年，被检察官描述为美国境内走私活动头目的费利佩·奥尔杜纳-托雷斯在美国被判处终身监禁。他的得力助手阿曼多·冈萨雷斯-奥尔特加被判处83年监禁。

包括卡车司机在内的更多人的判刑日期已经确定。

这场悲剧是近几十年来夺走数千条生命的众多类似事件中最致命的一起，这些悲剧都发生在人们试图从墨西哥越境进入美国的过程中。2017年，十名移民被困在一辆停在圣安东尼奥沃尔玛超市的卡车内，不幸身亡。

2003 年，在圣安东尼奥东南部的一辆闷热的卡车里发现了 19 名移民的尸体。