As of June 30, local time, the death toll of illegal immigrants in Texas reached 53. On the same day, the driver of the big truck appeared in the federal court of the city of San Antonio to stand trial. Media reports say he could face life in prison or the death penalty if convicted.
Federal court documents show that the arrested 45-year-old truck driver, a U.S. citizen from Texas, was caught by police in a bush near the scene of the incident. The Justice Department said he would face up to life imprisonment or the death penalty and a fine of up to $250,000 if convicted.
In addition, 3 people involved in the case were indicted. One of the 28-year-old men was accused of conspiring with truck drivers to engage in human smuggling, which directly contributed to the deaths of these illegal immigrants. Two Mexican men arrested at the registered address of the large van in San Antonio have been charged with illegal residence and illegal possession of firearms.
Previously, many countries confirmed that most of the deaths in the Texas truck tragedy came from Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras.
On Thursday, local time, relatives of the deceased's hometown fell into great grief after learning the bad news. Nuñez, a 37-year-old woman from Honduras, left home on June 3 and told her father she wanted to immigrate to the United States. Her father tried to persuade her to give up, but eventually her daughter insisted on getting into the big truck. The last time the father and daughter spoke was before she left, and she said the phone was about to be confiscated and would not be able to be contacted for the time being.
In a small town in eastern Mexico, the Teofello family is inquiring about the whereabouts of their two sons, who are convinced that their 19- and 16-year-old sons are in the big truck involved in the case, and their last contact was on the morning of the 27th, when the two children said they were waiting on the side of the road to be taken to San Antonio.
The smuggler demanded that Theofilo pay 400,000 Mexican pesos (about 150,000 yuan), the price of bringing his two sons to the United States. Unable to afford the cost, the family mortgaged the house and paid a portion of the loan in advance, and now her sons are missing and the money owed is unable to repay. Theofilo asked the U.S. authorities to issue them humanitarian visas so they could go to the U.S. to confirm the whereabouts of their son.
Source: CCTV Finance