US jails Guatemalan man for 30 years over deadly smuggling operation

The 2022 incident resulted in the deaths of 53 immigrants trapped inside a tractor-trailer in dangerously high heat.

Police and first responders respond to the scene of an abandoned tractor-trailer filled with immigrants on June 27, 2022, in San Antonio, Texas [File: Eric Gay/AP Photo]

A Guatemalan man has been sentenced to 30 years in a United States prison for his role in a human-smuggling operation that killed 53 migrants trapped in a truck — a disaster that had been described as one of the deadliest such incidents along the US-Mexico border in recent history.

US District Judge Orlando Garcia handed 39-year-old Rigoberto Roman Miranda-Orozco a 30-year prison term on Tuesday, more than a year after his extradition from Guatemala in March 2025.

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He was first arrested in Guatemala in August 2024, as part of a cross-border effort to dismantle the human-smuggling network.

The charges stem from a fatal incident on June 27, 2022. According to the US Department of Justice, emergency crews discovered dozens of people trapped inside an abandoned truck in a remote area on the southern outskirts of San Antonio, Texas.

A total of 64 migrants had endured a lengthy journey that began in Guatemala and continued through Mexico across the border into the US.

By the time the truck was driving from Laredo, Texas, to San Antonio — a distance of 250km or 156 miles — prosecutors say the air conditioning had stopped functioning. When the truck was discovered, temperatures were approaching 32 degrees Celsius (90F).

Forty-eight people were pronounced dead on the scene, and five more passed away while receiving emergency medical treatment for heat-related illness and dehydration.

Among the dead were six children and a pregnant woman. Of those killed, 21 were Guatemalan nationals.

Miranda-Orozco has admitted to arranging travel and accommodation for two of the migrants who died in the truck and another who survived but suffered grave injuries.

He pleaded guilty in July to conspiring to bring a migrant into the US resulting in death, as well as aiding and abetting the unlawful entry of migrants resulting in death and serious bodily injury.

According to The Associated Press news agency, Miranda-Orozco is among a group of nearly 20 people sentenced in the US and Guatemala in connection with the tragedy.

Felipe Orduna-Torres, identified as the leader of the operation in the US, was sentenced to life in prison in a federal court in San Antonio in June 2025.

Armando Gonzales-Ortega, described by prosecutors as Orduna Torres’s top assistant, received an 83-year sentence.

Further proceedings remain pending, including in the case against the truck driver.

According to prosecutors, investigators found signs of passengers’ desperate attempts to escape the abandoned truck. Some had reportedly removed clothing. Scratch marks on the trailer’s interior, meanwhile, suggested that some people had clawed at the walls in a futile bid to escape.

The prosecutors said the passengers had paid as much as $15,000 for passage across the border.

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

The I-35 highway near where the truck was found runs through San Antonio from the Mexican border.

It is considered a popular smuggling corridor because of the large volume of truck traffic, Jack Staton, a former senior official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), told the Reuters news agency at the time.

The administration of President Donald Trump has cited the need to end human trafficking as a rationale for his crackdown on irregular immigration across the southern border.

But critics have argued that hardline enforcement tactics may drive immigrants to pursue more dangerous methods for crossing the border irregularly.

2022 年发生的这起事件导致 53 名移民被困在一辆拖车内，当时车内温度极高，最终不幸身亡。

2022年6月27日，在德克萨斯州圣安东尼奥，警方和急救人员赶到一辆装满移民的废弃拖车现场。[图片：Eric Gay/AP Photo]

一名危地马拉男子因参与人口走私行动而被判处 30 年美国监禁，该行动导致 53 名移民被困在一辆卡车内死亡——这场灾难被描述为近代史上美墨边境最致命的此类事件之一。

美国地区法官奥兰多·加西亚周二判处 39 岁的里戈韦托·罗曼·米兰达-奥罗兹科 30 年监禁，此前他于 2025 年 3 月从危地马拉被引渡到美国，至今已超过一年。

列表 1/4：又有两名男子在美国就 2021 年致命的人口走私卡车事故认罪

列表 2/4：人口走私的致命生意

公布德州四起移民死亡事件中的第三起：家属焦急等待确认遇难者身份

列表 4/4 “骇人听闻的悲剧”：德克萨斯州卡车内至少发现 50 具尸体

他于 2024 年 8 月在危地马拉首次被捕，这是打击人口走私网络的跨境行动的一部分。

这些指控源于 2022 年 6 月 27 日发生的一起致命事件。据美国司法部称，紧急救援人员在德克萨斯州圣安东尼奥南部郊区一处偏远地区发现数十人被困在一辆废弃卡车内。

共有 64 名移民经历了漫长的旅程，他们从危地马拉出发，途经墨西哥，越过边境进入美国。

检方称，这辆卡车从德克萨斯州拉雷多驶往圣安东尼奥的途中——全程250公里（156英里）——空调已经停止工作。卡车被发现时，车内温度接近32摄氏度（90华氏度）。

现场宣布48人死亡，另有5人在接受与中暑和脱水相关的紧急医疗救治时死亡。

死者中有六名儿童和一名孕妇。遇难者中，21人是危地马拉国民。

米兰达-奥罗兹科承认，她为卡车上两名死亡的移民和另一名幸存但身受重伤的移民安排了旅行和住宿。

他于 7 月认罪，承认串谋将一名移民带入美国导致其死亡，以及协助和教唆非法移民入境导致其死亡和严重人身伤害。

据美联社报道，米兰达-奥罗兹科是因这起悲剧在美国和危地马拉被判刑的近 20 人之一。

被认定为美国境内该行动领导人的费利佩·奥尔杜纳-托雷斯于 2025 年 6 月在圣安东尼奥联邦法院被判处终身监禁。

检察官称阿曼多·冈萨雷斯-奥尔特加是奥尔杜纳·托雷斯的得力助手，他被判处 83 年监禁。

包括对卡车司机的案件在内，其他诉讼程序仍在进行中。

据检方称，调查人员发现车厢内有乘客试图逃离废弃卡车的痕迹。据报道，一些乘客脱掉了衣服。与此同时，车厢内部的抓痕表明，有人曾徒劳地抓挠车厢壁试图逃脱。

检察官称，这些乘客为了过境支付了高达 15,000 美元。

“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·西蒙斯在周二宣判后的新闻发布会上告诉记者。

发现卡车的地点附近的 I-35 高速公路从墨西哥边境穿过圣安东尼奥。

美国移民和海关执法局 (ICE) 前高级官员杰克·斯塔顿当时告诉路透社，由于卡车交通量巨大，这里被认为是一条热门的走私通道。

唐纳德·特朗普总统的政府以打击人口贩运为由，严厉打击南部边境的非法移民。

但批评人士认为，强硬的执法策略可能会迫使移民采取更危险的非法越境方式。