On June 27, 2022, 53 migrants were found dead in and around a tractor-trailer near Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, United States. The deaths, caused by heat exposure and asphyxiation, reportedly occurred during an apparent illegal migrant smuggling attempt across the U.S.–Mexico border. It is the deadliest smuggling incident of its kind in United States history.
Background
During 2022, there has been a record number of migrants crossing the U.S.–Mexico border, where authorities are on pace to record more than 2 million arrests. U.S. Customs and Border Protection figures showed that illegal immigration arrests at the border in May rose to the highest levels ever recorded. They made 239,416 arrests along the border in May, a two percent increase from April.
San Antonio is known as a major transit point for migrants moving from Texas to the rest of the United States. Located from the U.S.–Mexico border, smugglers would transport migrants to the city by means of large vehicles. Earlier in June, the Department of Homeland Security released details on the Biden administration's efforts to combat human smuggling and unauthorized migration in conjunction with the Summit of the Americas held in Los Angeles. The series of operations launched across the Western Hemisphere is part of the largest human smuggling crackdown ever seen in the region, with more than 1,300 deployed personnel and nearly 2,000 smugglers arrested in just two months.
A similar incident occurred in San Antonio on July 23, 2017, when 39 migrants were found in a tractor-trailer in a Walmart parking lot. Ten of them died and 29 were injured. Eight of them died at the scene and two in the hospital. The deaths were found to have been caused by a combination of heat exposure and asphyxiation. The Walmart where the 2017 incident occurred is roughly from the 9600 block of Quintana Road, where the 2022 incident was discovered.
Incident
On June 27, the tractor-trailer was discovered on Quintana Road by workers from a nearby business. The road runs parallel to Interstate 35, one of the major north-south routes in the central United States for traffic and commerce from the Southern border, which is often exploited by smugglers. A survivor of the truck claimed that the migrants had been waiting in a warehouse on the Texas side of the border before their cellphones were confiscated and they were loaded into the truck, which she believed to have chicken bouillon covering the floor. The truck made multiple stops to pick up additional migrants, and conditions in the truck deteriorated with people yelling about the heat and being unable to breathe, with the survivor stating there was minimal water brought by other migrants who crowded near the doors by the end as it was cooler.
San Antonio Police Chief William McManus reported that officers had received a call shortly before 6:00 p.m. after a person working nearby heard a cry for help. When the worker approached he saw several bodies stacked inside the tractor-trailer with the doors partially ajar. San Antonio Fire Department arrived and found many deceased individuals and others too weak to free themselves even with the doors ajar, due to heat stroke and exhaustion from lack of air-conditioning and water in conditions. The alleged truck driver, Homero Zamorano Jr was apparently unaware that the truck's air conditioning had failed, according to Christian Martinez who had been texting Zamorano details including a manifest for the truck and a location in Laredo, TX, on June 27.
A responding San Antonio Police officer stated that when they and other first responders arrived they moved many of the victims out of the trailer as they were prioritizing finding those that were still alive. First responders used K-9s to search the area for additional victims that may have attempted to find assistance, although no additional victims were found. Zamorano was seen attempting to flee the area, and followed by a police helicopter before he was later discovered by authorities hiding in a bush near the abandoned truck.
Victims
Fifty-three people died in the incident with forty-six bodies discovered in the trailer. Three survivors died in the Baptist Health System hospital later that day and another the following day. The deceased were forty men and thirteen women with twenty-seven from Mexico, fourteen from Honduras, seven from Guatemala, and two from El Salvador.
Sixteen injured but conscious survivors, twelve adults and four children, were taken to medical facilities. The victims ranged in age 13 to 55.