Guatemalan man gets 30 years in prison for the deaths of 53 migrants in a Texas tractor-trailer

A federal judge sentenced Guatemalan national Rigoberto Ramón Miranda Orozco, 50, to 30 years in prison on Tuesday for his role in the 2022 human-smuggling attempt that ended with the deaths of 53 migrants crammed inside a tractor-trailer in the sweltering Texas heat.

According to prosecutors, Miranda Orozco organized the travel and lodging of two of the people who died and another who was seriously injured. The trailer's air conditioning malfunctioned and delivered no cold air during the three-hour trip from the border city of Laredo to San Antonio; the migrants, who reportedly paid up to $15,000 each to cross the border, tried to "claw their way out" of the trailer, as federal prosecutor Justin Simmons described it.

Around 20 people from the United States and Guatemala have been convicted since the abandoned trailer was discovered with dozens of bodies inside, including 21 Guatemalans. The defendant was arrested in Guatemala in 2024 and extradited to the United States the following year; in July he pleaded guilty to conspiracy and aiding and abetting the smuggling of migrants resulting in death and serious bodily injury.

U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia imposed the sentence. Defense attorney Alfonso Cabanas Jr. called it "very harsh," saying his client was in Guatemala at the time of the incident and had no control over the transportation. The leader of the operation in the United States, Felipe Orduña Torres, was sentenced to life in prison last year. More sentencings are pending, including that of the truck driver.

Photo: NY1 Noticias

Source: Spectrum Noticias NY1