Four Mexican nationals were detained by federal agents in connection with a fatal smuggling incident using a tractor-trailer a year ago.
The four Mexican nationals were detained in Marshall, Houston and San Antonio, Texas, on suspicion of involvement in the tractor-trailer smuggling event that left 53 undocumented people dead and 11 injured June 27, 2022, according to a June 27 U.S. Department of Homeland Security news release.
“Human smugglers prey on migrants’ hope for a better life – but their only priority is profit,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in the release. “Tragically, 53 people who had been loaded into a tractor-trailer in Texas and endured hours of unimaginable cruelty lost their lives because of this heartless scheme. Human smugglers who put people’s lives at risk for profit and break our laws cannot hide for long: We will find you and bring you to justice.”
The charges were the work of Joint Task Force Alpha, a partnership established in 2021 by Garland and DHS Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas to improve coordination between DHS and the Justice Department in combating human trafficking and smuggling operations in Mexico and the "Northern Triangle" nations of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, the release reported.
Between December 2021 and June 2022, Riley Covarrubias-Ponce, 30; Felipe Orduna-Torres, 28; Luis Alberto Rivera-Leal, 37; and Armando Gonzales-Ortega, 53, are alleged to have been involved with a human smuggling ring that brought adults and children from Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico into the U.S., according to the release.
To reduce expenses and increase profit, the smugglers attempted to move the migrants by sharing routes, drivers, stash houses, vehicles, trailers and carriers, the release reported. The group used a variety of tractors-trailers, some of which were kept in a private San Antonio private parking lot.
"Today’s arrests demonstrate that those who seek to profit from desperation will be brought to justice," Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco said in the release. "Working with international partners, the Department of Justice is striking back at international organized crime and sending a clear message that there is no safe haven for trafficking in firearms, deadly narcotics or human beings.”
