Two men involved in the deadliest human smuggling operation in modern U.S. history, received lengthy prison sentences Friday, the third anniversary of the operation that led to the deaths of 53 illegal immigrants stuck inside a sweltering tractor-trailer in San Antonio.
U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia, a Bill Clinton appointee, for the Western District of Texas sentenced Felipe Orduna-Torres to life in prison and a $250,000 fine, and Armando Gonzales-Ortega to 83 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, the Department of Justice said in a news release.
Both were found guilty in March on three counts related to the transportation of aliens within the U.S. resulting in death, causing serious bodily injury, and placing lives in jeopardy.
“Three years to the day after these two smugglers and their co-conspirators left dozens of men, women, and children locked in a sweltering tractor-trailer to die in the Texas summer heat, they learned that they will spend the rest of their lives locked away in a federal prison,” Justin Simmons, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas, said in the news release. “We recognize the justice handed down by Judge Garcia and thank our law enforcement partners for their great work that led to today’s outcome.
“At the same time, we reinforce the message that these criminal organizations will not place the lives of the desperate and vulnerable above their own financial enrichment.”
Five other defendants have pleaded guilty for their involvement in the smuggling tragedy, the DOJ said. Riley Covarrubias-Ponce, 32, is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 6; Luis Alberto Rivera-Leal, 39, is set to be sentenced Nov. 13; Christian Martinez, 31, is set to be sentenced Nov. 20; and Homero Zamorano Jr., 48, believed be the driver of the truck, is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 4, the same date as Juan Francisco D’Luna Bilbao, 51, who was indicted separately.
The DOJ said in the days leading up to the tragedy, Orduna-Torres and others exchanged the names of illegal immigrants who would be smuggled in a tractor-trailer. Gonzales-Ortega traveled to the border town of Laredo, Texas, to meet the tractor-trailer, where at least 64 illegal immigrants, including eight children and a pregnant woman, were transferred from stash houses to be loaded for smuggling.
Court documents viewed by Newsmax showed the migrants paid up to $15,000 each to be taken across the border. The fee would cover up to three attempts to get into the U.S.
Some of the defendants, including Orduna-Torres, were aware that the trailer’s refrigerator unit was malfunctioning and was not blowing any cool air to the migrants inside, the DOJ said.
When members of the smuggling organization met the trailer at the end of its approximately three-hour journey to San Antonio, they opened the locked doors to find 48 people dead, including the pregnant woman. Five of the 16 that were transported to hospitals died. All told, 47 adults and six children died — 27 from Mexico, 20 from Guatemala, and six from Honduras.
“These criminals will spend the rest of their lives in prison because of their cruel choice to profit off of human suffering,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in the news release. “Today’s sentences are a powerful message to human smugglers everywhere: We will not rest until you are behind bars.”
In a related case, the DOJ said Rigoberto Ramon Miranda-Orozco, 48, allegedly worked with the organization to smuggle migrants into the U.S. on the same fatal journey orchestrated by Orduna-Torres and his co-conspirators. Miranda-Orozco made his initial court appearance in San Antonio on March 17, seven months after he was arrested in Guatemala, and is scheduled for a jury trial Sept. 29.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.