Rigoberto Ramon Miranda-Orozco was arrested on August 21 in connection with the June 2022 deaths of 53 smuggled migrants in a tractor-trailer in San Antonio. The announcement came in an August 23 news release from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the indictment is a result of collaboration with international and domestic partners, including the Joint Task Force Alpha. Miranda-Orozco, 47, is accused of conspiring with other smugglers to transport four migrants from Guatemala to Mexico and ultimately to the United States. He allegedly charged between $12,000 and $15,000 for the journey, during which at least three migrants perished. The fourth was injured.
Six others will face local charges. At the request of the United States, Miranda-Orozco was arrested by Guatemalan authorities. He was charged with six counts of migrant smuggling and could face up to life in prison.
Katrina W. Berger, Executive Associate Director
| Homeland Security Investigations
"HSI is deeply immersed in the global fight against human smuggling that includes our international operations within Central and South America," said HSI Executive Associate Director Katrina W. Berger. "These arrests reflect the disruption of Central American human smuggling organizations that recruit, organize and transport people."
Berger added that combating this prolific transnational crime is one of their top priorities: "Our special agents and criminal analysts are actively engaged with law enforcement partners and task forces around the globe working to dismantle criminal networks that treat human life like a commodity. HSI will keep exhausting every resource available to bring human smugglers to justice."
Allegedly, 65 migrants were loaded into a tractor-trailer without air conditioning. By the time it arrived in El Paso, 48 of those migrants had died, including six children and a pregnant woman. Five more migrants died at local hospitals.
Seven other alleged human smugglers were also charged in this event; four have pled guilty, according to the HSI news release.
Homeland Security Investigations is the investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). There are more than 10,000 employees of HSI who work in 235 offices in the United States and 93 overseas locations. HSI was created in 2010 when the Offices of Investigations, Intelligence, and International Affairs within U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were combined into a new directorate known as Homeland Security Investigations.
