Two men found guilty in San Antonio migrant-smuggling tragedy that killed 53

Two guilt verdicts have been reached in the 2022 migrant-smuggling incident that resulted in 53 deaths on San Antonio’s Quintana Road.

Armando Gonzales-Ortega and Felipe Orduna-Torres were found guilty Tuesday after a two week trial, and the pair will be sentenced June 27, the three-year anniversary of the tragedy, according to the Texas Tribune. Both face up to life in prison, the news organization reports. The jury only deliberated for an hour before finding both defendants guilty of three charges — conspiracy to transport aliens resulting in death, causing serious bodily injury and placing lives in jeopardy, TV station KSAT reports.

On June 27, 2022, as outdoor temperatures reached highs of 99 degrees, police received a call from a worker in Southwest San Antonio who heard cries coming from a parked 18-wheeler. Authorities responded to the location near Lackland Air Force Base and found 63 migrants trapped inside the rig.

As the temperature in the trailer rose, those inside screamed and banged the walls or tried to claw their way out, the Tribune reports. When authorities arrived, the driver had abandoned the rig and those inside.
Initially, 48 deaths were reported at the scene due to lack of air conditioning and water. More later succumbed to heat-related injuries in the hospital. One of the 53 dead was a pregnant woman.
The tragedy made national news as the deadliest human smuggling incident in U.S. history.

Guatemalan police have arrested a total of 10 people in relation to the incident. During a Tuesday afternoon news conference, Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Fuchs said another suspect was extradited from Guatemala to San Antonio last Friday.

The human smuggling organization known as Los Orozcos was responsible for the operation, the New York Times reports, citing Guatemalan authorities. Immigrants from Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico reportedly paid the outfit as much as $15,000 for transport across the United States’ southern border.

Guatemalan authorities told the Times that the arrests included Rigoberto Ramón Miranda Orozco, known as “Don Rigo,” the alleged ringleader of the group. A mural honoring the lives lost in the incident now adorns a wall in Mission County Park on San Antonio’s South Side.

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This article appears in Mar 5-18, 2025.