- 53 migrants were killed in a smuggling attempt on the U.S. border
- Suspicious driver accused of human trafficking
- The driver had methamphetamine in his system, according to the U.S. lawmaker and official
SAN ANTONIO, June 30 (Reuters) – The alleged driver of a truck full of dozens of migrants who died in a scorching heat during a smuggling attempt in Texas was allegedly under the influence of methamphetamine when police found him , a U.S. lawmaker told Reuters, citing information. of law enforcement.
San Antonio police officers on Monday found Homero Zamorano Jr., a Texas native, hiding among a brush near the abandoned tractor-trailer, according to documents filed Thursday in federal court. Fifty-three migrants lost their lives, making it the deadliest trafficking incident on record in the United States.
U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat whose district includes the eastern part of San Antonio, told Reuters Thursday that Zamorano was found to have methamphetamine, a powerful synthetic drug, in his system.
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Cuellar said the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will inform him about the matter, but did not know how the authorities made that determination. A CBP official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters separately that Zamorano had methamphetamine in his system.
Reuters could not immediately independently confirm reports of alleged drug use.
Zamorano, 45, appeared Thursday in San Antonio federal court where human trafficking charges against him were read. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment or the death penalty and a fine of up to $ 250,000, he was told.
He was accompanied by public defender José González-Falla, who declined to comment on the case. U.S. Magistrate Elizabeth Chestney said Zamorano would be detained until his next hearing, on July 6.
Officials described finding the back door of the trailer ajar with bodies stacked inside that were hot to the touch. In nearby forests, officers discovered other victims, some dead. They found Zamorano hiding near the victims and accompanied him to a local hospital for a medical evaluation, prosecutors said. Mexican officials said he had tried to pass himself off as one of the survivors.
‘WERE ARE YOU?’
The truck was carrying migrants from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador and was found in a desolate industrial area near a road on the outskirts of the US-Mexico border.
Temperatures in the area that day had risen to 103 degrees Fahrenheit (39.4 degrees Celsius), and authorities called to the scene found no water supply or signs of air conditioning inside the trailer. of load.
Prosecutors allege that Zamorano conspired with Christian Martinez, 28, who was also charged with a felony of human trafficking. Martinez sent a photo of a truck cargo manifesto to Zamorano on Monday, who responded by saying, “I’m going to the same place,” a federal investigator wrote Wednesday in a court document.
Martinez repeatedly sent messages to Zamorano during the following hours, but received no response, wrote Néstor Canales, a special agent in the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) research division. Martinez sent messages like “Call me bro” and “Wya bro,” meaning “where are you,” Canales wrote.
A confidential ICE and Texas police informant spoke with Martinez after the incident, Canales wrote. Martinez told the informant, “The driver was unaware that the air conditioning unit stopped working and was the reason the individuals died,” Canales added.
Reuters was unable to contact Martinez for comment. Martinez, who is in official custody, made a first appearance Wednesday in an East Texas district court.
“HEARING HOUSE”
Mexicans accounted for about half of those who died. Eleven people, including minors, remain hospitalized. In addition to 27 Mexicans, the victims include 14 Hondurans, seven Guatemalans and two Salvadorans, the Mexican government said.
Among the dead were Pascual Melvin Guachiac, 13, and Juan Wilmer Tulul, 14, both of Guatemala, the country’s foreign ministry wrote on Twitter.
The two were cousins who left home two weeks ago to escape poverty, Guachiac’s mother told Guatemalan media. Read more
Also among the victims was Yazmin Nayarith Bueso, who left Honduras almost a month ago. His brother said he had been out of work for a year. “He looked and looked and found nothing, and he despaired,” Alejandro Bueso told a Honduran television program on Thursday.
Officials believe the migrants boarded the truck on the U.S. side of the border with Mexico.
Surveillance photographs captured the truck passing through a border checkpoint in Laredo, Texas, at 14:50 CT (1950 GMT) on Monday, before migrant passengers were believed to have boarded.
Cuellar, the Texas lawmaker, said the migrants had probably crossed the border and gone to a “storage house” before being picked up by the trailer and passing control of Encinal. They probably went to San Antonio and experienced mechanical problems that left them in the back of the truck with no air conditioning or ventilation, Cuellar said.
Two other men suspected of being involved in the incident, Mexicans Juan Claudio D’Luna-Mendez and Francisco D’Luna-Bilbao, were charged Tuesday in U.S. federal court with firearms while residing illegally. legally in the country. A preliminary hearing for the couple is scheduled for Friday.
D’Luna-Mendez’s lawyer, Michael McCrum, said his client is a 21-year-old carpenter who has been in the United States since childhood and “had nothing to do with” the tragedy. McCrum said he believed the other accused man was the father of his client.
The case loading documents indicated that the truck’s record was tracked at the men’s address. “They’re arresting anyone they can,” McCrum said.
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Report by Jason Buch and Julio-Cesar Chavez in San Antonio, Ted Hesson in Washington; Additional report by Gustavo Palencia in Tegucigalpa; Written by Rami Ayyub; Editing by Mica Rosenberg, Aurora Ellis and Leslie Adler
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