Four men from Mexico were arrested in the south-central U.S. state of Texas for their connection with the human smuggling case that left 53 migrants dead in a tractor-trailer in San Antonio one year ago, federal prosecutors said on Tuesday.
The arrests made on Monday increased the number of people charged in the case to six. Two others were charged last year, The Associated Press reported.
According to the federal prosecutor, the four men were part of a human smuggling organization that brought people from Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico into the United States from December 2021 to June 2022.
They worked in concert, “sharing routes, guides, stash houses, trucks, trailers, and transporters in order to consolidate costs, minimize risks, and maximize profit,” said the U.S. attorney’s office.
“Human smugglers who put people’s lives at risk for profit and break our laws cannot hide for long,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said on Tuesday.
On June 27, 2022, 53 migrants, including children, were found dead in an abandoned 18-wheel trailer in San Antonio. Temperatures hit over 37 degrees Celsius that day, with the truck’s air conditioning system not functioning.
