11 Indicted in Texas Smuggling Ring After 7 Migrants Died in Rail Container
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Jul 24
11 Indicted in Texas Smuggling Ring After 7 Migrants Died in Rail Container
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jul 24
Summary
Federal prosecutors said the 11 defendants ran a smuggling operation from 2023 to May 2026 that ended with seven migrants dead after hours inside a sealed shipping container on a Union Pacific train.
Seven victims — four Mexicans and three Hondurans, including a 14-year-old — were loaded into the container near Del Rio on May 9, facing 88-to-92-degree heat with no way to open it from inside.
San Antonio became the turning point: smugglers allegedly found the group in peril, left one dead migrant by the tracks, then shut the container again and let the train continue to Laredo, where six bodies were discovered.
Nine defendants are now in federal custody after arrests in Del Rio, Eagle Pass and elsewhere in Texas; two suspects — Karina Garcia, 37, and Seferino Huerta-Casillas, 35 — remain at large.
Each victim allegedly paid $1,500 to $10,000 for transport from Acuña, Mexico, and all 11 defendants face charges tied to transporting migrants resulting in death, punishable by up to life in prison.