51 Migrants Dead After Being Abandoned Inside Tractor-Trailer Near San Antonio

At least a dozen others were taken to hospitals after the rig was found abandoned on the outskirts of the Texas city.
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Authorities said 51 people believed to be migrants have died after attempting to enter the United States from Mexico inside a tractor-trailer, which was abandoned near San Antonio, Texas, on Monday as the temperature topped 100.

Authorities said at a news conference Monday night that 16 people, including four children, were taken to hospitals in various conditions. The survivors were “hot to the touch,” officials said, and suffering from heatstroke and heat exhaustion.

San Antonio Police Chief Bill McManus said law enforcement officers first responded to a call of a dead body near the abandoned truck after a worker at a nearby business investigated what they described as a cry for help just before 6 p.m. local time. Officials found a body outside the vehicle before opening up the truck to discover “stacks of bodies” inside.

San Antonio Fire Department Chief Charles Hood said the vehicle was a refrigerated tractor-trailer that had been abandoned in a remote area outside the city limits but that there was no working air conditioner and no water.

Officials told The Associated Press on Tuesday that three people were in custody, the driver and two other people. They also couldn’t be sure all of the people traveling in the vehicle had been accounted for.

“The plight of migrants seeking refuge is always a humanitarian crisis, but tonight we are dealing with a horrific human tragedy,” San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said Monday night. “We hope that those responsible for putting these people in such [inhumane] conditions are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

A man pays his respects Tuesday at the site where officials found dozens of people dead in a tractor-trailer containing suspected migrants near San Antonio.
A man pays his respects Tuesday at the site where officials found dozens of people dead in a tractor-trailer containing suspected migrants near San Antonio.
Eric Gay/Associated Press

The AP added that authorities were working to identify the victims, which include 22 Mexican nationals, seven people from Guatemala and two from Honduras. The truck crossed a border patrol checkpoint in Laredo, Texas, earlier Monday, but it’s unclear if the migrants were inside at the time.

The deaths came amid a heat wave in San Antonio that topped 100 degrees on Monday.

Officials said it was one of the deadliest tragedies involving migrants in recent memory, and emblematic of the ongoing struggle for thousand of people that make the dangerous crossing into the United States. Texas has seen record levels of migrant crossings from Mexico this year and has been bracing for a renewed surge. Authorities say crossings are on pace to hit more than 2 million by the end of 2022.

“The plight of migrants seeking refuge is always a humanitarian crisis,” Nirenberg said Monday. He described the victims as men and women “who had families, who were likely trying to find a better life.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) shared a news story about the fatalities later Monday, and blamed the deaths on President Joe Biden.

Police and other first responders work the scene where dozens of people were found dead and multiple others were taken to hospitals with heat-related illnesses Monday in Bexar County, Texas.
Police and other first responders work the scene where dozens of people were found dead and multiple others were taken to hospitals with heat-related illnesses Monday in Bexar County, Texas.
Eric Gay/Associated Press

“They are a result of his deadly open border policies,” Abbott wrote on Twitter. “They show the deadly consequences of his refusal to enforce the law.”

Beto O’Rourke, a Democratic candidate for Texas governor, said the discovery was “devastating.” He added that his thoughts “go out to the families of those who lost their lives in San Antonio today.”

“We need urgent action — dismantle human smuggling rings and replace them with expanded avenues for legal migration that reflect our values and meet our country’s needs,” O’Rourke wrote on Twitter.

Ambulances and law enforcement officials, including agents from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, were on the scene. The investigation has been handed over to the Department of Homeland Security.

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