Smugglers to spend life in prison for 53 migrant deaths in 2022 human
smuggling tragedy in Texas
[June 28, 2025]
By JIM VERTUNO
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Two smugglers convicted of federal charges in
connection with the deaths of 53 migrants found in the back of a
sweltering tractor-trailer in Texas in 2022 will spend the rest of their
lives in prison after being sentenced Friday on the third anniversary of
the tragedy.
Felipe Orduna-Torres and Armando Gonzales-Ortega were the first of
several defendants to be sentenced for what remains the nation's
deadliest human smuggling attempt across the U.S.-Mexico border.
A federal jury convicted the men in March of being part of a human
smuggling conspiracy that resulted in death and injury. They were
sentenced by U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia at a hearing in San
Antonio.
Prosecutors described Orduna-Torres, 30, as the leader of the smuggling
operation inside the U.S. and he was sentenced to life in prison.
Gonzales-Ortega, 55, was his top assistant and was sentenced to 83
years. The federal prison system has no parole.
“These criminals will spend the rest of their lives in prison because of
their cruel choice to profit off of human suffering,” U.S. Attorney
General Pamela Bondi said. “Today’s sentences are a powerful message to
human smugglers everywhere: we will not rest until you are behind bars.”
The immigrants had come from Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico and had paid
between $12,000 and $15,000 each to be smuggled into the United States,
according to an indictment in the case. They had made it as far as the
Texas border city of Laredo when they were placed into a tractor-trailer
with broken air conditioning for a three-hour drive to San Antonio.
As the temperature rose inside the trailer, those inside screamed and
banged on the walls of the trailer for help or tried to claw their way
out, investigators said. Most eventually passed out. When the trailer
was opened in San Antonio, 48 people were already dead. Another 16 were
taken to hospitals, where five more died. The dead included six children
and a pregnant woman.
The judge allowed victim family members in Mexico, Honduras and
Guatemala to watch the sentencing hearing via video conference. Some
provided statements to be read and the judge also read the names of the
53 who died.
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Angelita Olvera visits a memorial honoring the victims and survivors
of a human smuggling tragedy where dozens of migrants were found in
an airless tractor-trailer rig two years ago, in San Antonio,
Friday, June 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Investigators said Orduna-Torres and Gonzales-Ortega worked with
human smuggling operations in Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, and
shared routes, guides, stash houses, trucks and trailers. Orduna-Torres
provided the address in Laredo where they would be picked up, and
Gonzalez-Ortega met them there.
Prosecutors estimated the group smuggled more than 1,100 people
across the border between November 2021 and June 2022, collecting
more than $13 million.
Justin Simmons, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas,
called those figures a warning for anyone thinking of paying to be
smuggled into the country.
“Cartels do not care about you. They do not care about your hopes
and dreams. They do not care about your desire for a better life,”
Simmons said. “They care about money.”
Five other men previously pleaded guilty to felony charges in the
smuggling case, including the truck driver Homero Zamorano Jr., who
was found hiding near the trailer in some bushes. Zamorano faces up
to life in prison when sentenced in December.
Those other defendants are scheduled to be sentenced later this
year, and a sixth who was arrested in Guatemala last year awaits
trial.
The 2022 smuggling attempt is the deadliest among tragedies that
have claimed thousands of lives in recent decades as people attempt
to cross the U.S. border from Mexico. Ten immigrants died in 2017
after they were trapped inside a truck parked at a Walmart store in
San Antonio. In 2003, the bodies of 19 immigrants were found in a
sweltering truck southeast of San Antonio.
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