Smugglers Found Guilty Three Years After 53 Migrants Died in Texas

After nearly three hours of deliberations, a jury in San Antonio on Tuesday convicted two men for their role in the deaths of 53 undocumented migrants, 47 adults and six children, one of the deadliest migrant smuggling incidents in the nation’s history.

The two defendants, Armando Gonzales-Ortega, 54, and Felipe Orduna-Torres, 29, who were charged with conspiracy to transport undocumented immigrants resulting in death, are facing sentences of life in prison. They are scheduled to be sentenced on June 27, three years after that fateful trip.

The judge presiding over the case, Orlando L. Garcia, told the men that he was counting a total of 54 fatalities because of one of the victims was pregnant at the time.

The trial has brought into stark relief the deadly dangers of human trafficking at a time when President Trump is cracking down on the asylum system and moving to close the border. Mr. Trump has also embraced what he has called the humanitarian side of his aggressive immigration crackdown, stopping the cartel leaders and smugglers who profit off transporting undocumented migrants into the United States.

The gruesome trial in San Antonio highlighted the perils of that trade, even as the president’s policies may make such treacherous avenues to entry more profitable to smugglers, known as coyotes.

The defendants showed no emotion as the jury read the verdict.

On June 27, 2022, the chilling scream of a young woman led witnesses to the grisly discovery of 53 dead and dying migrants who had been trapped inside a sweltering trailer without a working air-conditioner in the middle of the scorching Texas heat. Temperatures inside the 53-foot trailer had reached 150 degrees, the authorities had said.