The fates of two men accused of taking part in what resulted in the deadliest human smuggling attempt in the U.S. now lies in the hands of a San Antonio jury and a federal judge.
The trial for Felipe Orduna-Torres and Armando Gonzales-Ortega started this week. A jury has heard opening arguments, and emotional firsthand testimonies from survivors who were inside the locked tractor-trailer.
Struggling to speak without his voice breaking from the tears he held back, a survivor detailed the moments before he lost consciousness and woke up in the hospital after authorities had discovered the tractor-trailer parked on an abandoned stretch of Quintana Road on June 27, 2022.
Orduna-Torres and Gonzales-Ortega are among those accused of facilitating the journey of the migrants by allegedly obtaining the 18-wheeler and handing it off to the driver, Hector Zamorano, who was indicted and pleaded guilty in July.
A total of 14 people were arrested in connection to the smuggling, including seven people in Guatemala, and seven people in the U.S. Four have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing, two are currently going through trial.
The survivor testified that he remembered dozens of people sitting inside the truck, covered in a scent he described was similar to cilantro. He began to hear a man pleading for help for his wife, who was dying.
People started to feel afraid and began screaming for help. He said the driver must have heard the screams because he turned the air on, but the air blowing into the confined box was hot, making it worse for everyone inside.
The last thing he said he remembered before losing consciousness is a group of women who made a circle to pray.
First responders found 46 people dead at the scene. They suffocated from the extreme heat. Seven more people died after being transported to the hospital, raising the death toll to 53.
The human smuggling attempt launched an investigation into the smugglers who migrants say planned and organized the journey into the U.S. for them and has led to several arrests in the U.S and other countries.
According to officials, the smuggling ring shared routes, stash houses, trucks and other resources to consolidate costs, minimize risks and maximize profit.
Smugglers also knew the air conditioner in the truck did not work. According to the indictment, Orduna-Torres provided the pick-up address to Christian Martinez, who was indicted last July and pleaded guilty in January 2024.
Officials say Gonzales-Ortega met Zamorano at the pick-up point in Laredo and ordered the group of at least 66 migrants to give up their phones before getting in the truck, then followed Zamorano on Interstate 35 into San Antonio.
Defense attorneys for the accused smugglers argue that the federal officials haven’t linked their clients to the case. They did not drive the tractor-trailer and their DNA or fingerprints weren’t found at the scene.
The driver, Hector Zamorano, is scheduled to be sentenced in April.
Of the migrants killed, 26 were citizens of Mexico, 21 were citizens of Guatemala and six were citizens of Honduras.
In the first few days of the trial, the jury heard of some migrants’ multiple attempts to cross into the U.S. before they were trapped in the tractor-trailer, as well as details from stash houses in Mexico; one witness recalled more than 40 migrants in a three-bedroom home, where they were given little to no food and left with a 24-pack of water bottles to share.
Orduna-Torres and Gonzales-Ortega were arrested June 27, 2023.
The trial is expected to continue for several weeks.
