Federal prosecutors have indicted 11 people in connection with the death of seven illegal aliens who were trapped for hours inside a shipping container while being transported from Del Rio to Laredo in May 2026.
According to the indictment, the victims include four Mexican nationals and three Honduran nationals. One of them was a 14-year-old child.
The smugglers allegedly took the illegal aliens to Union Pacific train tracks in Del Rio, where they cut the lock of a boxcar, loaded the seven individuals inside, and then shut the door.
The shipping container was unventilated, had no cooling system, and could not be opened from within. Outside temperatures that day ranged from 88 to 92 degrees, according to the indictment.
One of the aliens “frantically contacted their family as they were dying from the sweltering heat in that container,” U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas Justin R. Simmons said.
According to Simmons, the smugglers likely intended to transport the aliens to San Antonio. After smugglers in San Antonio opened the boxcar, one of the individuals fell out of the car.
“They left that individual for dead there by the tracks in San Antonio, closed the door to the container and sent the train on its way, the train ultimately ending up in Laredo, Texas,” Simmons described.
According to the indictment, a worker at the Union Pacific Rail Yard in Laredo saw a leg sticking out from the shipping container, and the other six bodies were found inside.
One of the individuals charged in connection with the deaths was arrested on May 12 in Del Rio.
Two weeks ago, eight other defendants were arrested during a multi-day Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) operation across Central and South Texas. The defendants come from Texas, Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala.
Two wanted individuals—Karina Garcia, 37, of Del Rio and Seferino Huerta-Casillas, 35, of Mexico—remain at large.
According to the indictment, the defendants were part of a smuggling operation that began operating illegally around April 2023 and used cargo trains to transport illegal aliens farther into the United States. The seven illegal aliens, or their family and friends, paid between $1,500 and $10,000 for transportation.
The 11 defendants face charges of one count of conspiracy to transport illegal aliens resulting in death and one count of aiding and abetting transport of illegal aliens resulting in death. If convicted, they face a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The case is part of the HSTF initiative to eliminate criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings. The HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children.
