At least 46 bodies found in the trailer, San Antonio officials say
At least 53 people were found dead, “stacked” inside the tractor-trailer of a truck near San Antonio, Texas, in what authorities believe may be the deadliest human trafficking incident in history modern United States.
Another 16 people, including four children, were taken to local hospitals in different conditions, according to officials. Police have arrested three people. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is investigating.
A city worker heard a scream calling for help from the abandoned truck before discovering the horrific scene on Monday, according to San Antonio Police Chief William McManus.
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden called the “tragic loss of life” in Texas “horrible and heartbreaking,” while San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg called it a “horrible human tragedy.”
Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard confirmed that the nationalities of some of the victims who died inside the three-digit truck had been identified. Among the victims are 22 Mexicans, seven Guatemalans and two Hondurans.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott will hold a press conference on the southern border Wednesday afternoon, where his office says it plans to address “the ongoing response to President Biden’s growing border crisis.”
Key points
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Explanator: Heat and humidity are a dangerous mix in immigrant deaths
The combination of heat and humidity would have quickly created life-threatening conditions inside the full, air-conditioned tractor-trailer where dozens of dead immigrants were found, an expert said.
While it’s unclear how long the people had been inside the trailer, it would probably only take an hour or less for temperatures to rise to 125 F (51 C) or more, said Jennifer Vanos, assistant professor of climate and health. in the state of Arizona. University that has studied child deaths in cars.
The death toll rose to 53 on Wednesday, two days after the 67-person tractor-trailer was found abandoned on the outskirts of San Antonio, marking the country’s deadliest smuggling episode on the U.S.-US border. Mexico.
This is what made the situation so dangerously wrong:
Stuti Mishra June 30, 2022 5:24 AM
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Kamala Harris criticizes Texas governor for going “straight into politics” after death of 53 migrants in San Antonio
During an interview with NPR on Wednesday, the Democrat answered questions from co-presenter Asma Khalid about the overthrow of Roe v Wade before the couple returned to talk about issues south of the border.
“I’m sure you saw that last night there were at least 50 migrants who died in a tractor trailer in San Antonio, Texas,” Ms. Khalid began. “I wanted to give you an idea of: are there new plans to address the problem through administrative powers, through executive actions, that you all think you can’t do?”
Late Monday night, just hours after news arrived that dozens of people were found trapped inside a suffocating trailer with no signs of water or air conditioning to fight the three-digit degree temperatures in the interior, the governor of Texas tweeted that the blame for The incident lay at the feet of the Biden administration.
Johanna Chisholm has the details.
Josh Marcus June 30, 2022 4:00 p.m.
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What we know about the victims of the Sant Antoni smuggling tragedy
The two cousins returned to the small, difficult village where they grew up in southern Mexico about two weeks ago to say goodbye to what has become a right-of-way for generations of migrants from their remote and impoverished mountainous region. the state of Oaxaca.
It would not be the first trip to the U.S.-Mexico border for Javier Flores Lopez, now in his 30s, who had left Cerro Verde years ago and left for Ohio, where his father and brother live. he worked in construction.
He returned home to briefly see his wife and three young children, said a cousin, Francisco Lopez Hernandez. This time he was returning to the United States with another cousin, José Luis Vásquez Guzmán, 32, who was going for the first time and hoping to join his older brother who was also in Ohio.
Although everyone knew the risks, countless people in Cerro Verde had managed to cross the U.S.-Mexico border with the help of smugglers, so it was a shock, Lopez Hernandez said, to learn that his cousins and dozens of ‘other migrants were abandoned inside. a suffocating tractor-trailer under the Texas sun.
Josh Marcus June 30, 2022 3:30 p.m.
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EXPLANATORY: Heat, humidity are a dangerous mixture in the deaths of immigrants
The combination of heat and humidity would have quickly created life-threatening conditions inside the full, air-conditioned tractor-trailer where dozens of dead immigrants were found, an expert said.
While it’s unclear how long the people had been inside the trailer, it would probably only take an hour or less for temperatures to rise to 125 degrees (51 degrees Celsius) or more, said Jennifer Vanos, assistant professor of climate and health. at Arizona State University who has studied infant car deaths.
The death toll rose to 53 on Wednesday, two days after the 67-person tractor-trailer was found abandoned on the outskirts of San Antonio, marking the country’s deadliest smuggling episode on the U.S.-US border. Mexico.
Josh Marcus June 30, 2022 3:00 p.m.
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Among the tragedy, a case of misidentification
Haneydi Jazmin Antonio Guzmán informed his friends and family that “he was fine by the grace of God” on his Facebook page.
“Don’t believe anything, this is a lie, this credential [her voter ID]she was stolen a year ago, “she said after media reports named her one of the survivors of the trailer tragedy.
Ms. Antonio Guzmán, from Escuintla in Guatemala, said she was not the person who was hospitalized and clarified that her ID card, found on a person in the tragedy of the trailer, was stolen from her a year ago.
Read the full story of Maroosha Muzaffar.
Josh Marcus June 30, 2022 2:30 p.m.
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San Antonio Funeral Home that helps victims of the smuggling disaster
A San Antonio funeral home is stepping in to help those who lost loved ones in Monday’s horrific incidence of human trafficking.
The Compean Funeral Home is working to help return the bodies of those who have been lost to the coffins so that their families can give them the proper burials.
“This is just the beginning, I can tell you this. This will be a marathon. This will not be a sprint,” owner Gregory Compean told Click2Houston. “Whenever human remains are shipped out of the country, those remains must be properly embalmed within all Texas state rules and regulations to be accepted by that other country.”
The owner of the funeral home said he helped in a similar process in 2003, when 19 migrants died in a car accident.
Josh Marcus June 30, 2022 2:00 p.m.
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A 31-year-old from rural Mexico among the survivors of the trailer tragedy
Jose Luis Vasquez, a 31-year-old from a mountainous indigenous rural area in southern Mexico, is among the survivors of Monday’s human trafficking tragedy in Texas.
Vasquez, who is now receiving treatment at a San Antonio hospital, had recently left the Mexican army, but had not alerted his family to his travel plans.
“I guess it was the same story as always,” his uncle Aquilino Guzman told Reuters. “Looking for better opportunities.”
Josh Marcus June 30, 2022 1:40 p.m.
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Four accused of killing a tractor
Four people, including alleged trucker Homero Zamarano Jr., have been charged with the deaths of migrants in San Antonio, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.
The 45-year-old man is charged with a foreign trafficking offense that resulted in death. According to officials, he is from Brownsville, but based in Pasadena, Texas. He could face life in prison or the death penalty.
Federal investigators said they identified Mr. Zamarano by checking security images and that he was driving the truck in which 53 migrants were eventually killed.
Three others were also charged, including Christian Martinez, who allegedly talked about the smuggling plan in a call with Zamarano, and Mexicans Juan Claudio and Juan Francisco D’Luna Mendez, who were found because his address was used. to register the tractor trailer. who trafficked migrants.
Josh Marcus June 30, 2022 1:36 p.m.
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San Antonio coroner denies strange report on dead migrants covered in steak seasoning
The San Antonio forensic doctor has clarified one of the strangest points related to the discovery on Monday of a tractor-trailer full of migrants killed and seriously injured.
Initial media reports suggested that, instead, they were covered in steak seasoning, as a way to launch a possible inspection by search dogs or other surveillance methods at a border inspection post.
However, city officials say there is no evidence of this tactic on the bodies of the 53 migrants who died in the tragedy, the New York Times reports.
Josh Marcus June 30, 2022 1:15 p.m.
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The sister of the survivor of the smuggling tragedy speaks: “I never thought this would happen”
A Guatemalan migrant living in the United States says her sister was one of those who survived Monday’s tragic migrant trafficking disaster in San Antonio.
A woman only identified as Emeralda told the Guatemalan newspaper Prensa Libre that she had last heard of her sister, a young woman, on WhatsApp while the truck full of migrants was passing through Laredo, Texas. At the time, her sister said the trip had gone well and she would call when she could.
Finally, the Emerald continued, receiving a shocking message from another member of the journey.
“He said to me,‘ I’m sorry, I was in the trailer, ’” the woman told Prensa Libre. “I never thought this would happen and he confirmed it to me twice.”
However, after worrying about the worst, he received another update: “They rescued your sister and she’s fine.”
“I don’t know his state of health, how he is, only …