U.S. authorities on Thursday announced the indictment of a Guatemalan national who they say helped coordinate a human smuggling effort that ended with 53 migrants dead in a sweltering tractor-trailer in Texas.
Rigoberto Román Mirando Orozco is charged with six counts of migrant smuggling resulting in death or serious injury in the deadliest attempt from the U.S. Mexico border. Authorities alleged he can be connected to four of migrants in the trailer, three of whom died.
Arrests related to the 2022 deaths in San Antonio have climbed to more than a dozen and now stretch to Central America after years of investigations into the deadliest smuggling attempt from the U.S.-Mexico border.
On Wednesday, Guatemalan officials announced the arrests of seven people accused of helping smuggle the migrants, including Mirando Orozco, the alleged ringleader whose extradition had been requested by the United States, Interior Minister Francisco Jiménez told The Associated Press.
