Federal prosecutors have given a guarded update on two separate investigations into migrant deaths discovered in May in the Laredo and San Antonio areas. The U.S. Attorney’s Office says investigators are still working to identify the people who died and to reconstruct how the deaths occurred. Names have not been released, and officials are urging the public to come forward with any tips that might move the cases forward.
According to KENS5, the U.S. Attorney’s Office issued its update on June 13, 2024, saying federal investigators are coordinating with local and federal partners. The release said two migrants were found dead inside a tractor-trailer in the Laredo area in May, and three more were found in a separate incident in San Antonio that same month. It repeated that no names had been made public and noted that COVID-19 testing was used in one case to help confirm an identity.
A corridor with a deadly history
Law enforcement officials have long warned that the Laredo-San Antonio corridor is a well-worn route for human smuggling, with deadly consequences when people are packed into trailers or rail cars. The June 2022 tractor-trailer catastrophe that killed 53 people drove that point home and led to federal charges under statutes that target smuggling that results in death, as reported by the San Antonio Express-News. Federal press releases show that U.S. Attorney’s Offices and Homeland Security Investigations routinely work together on these kinds of cases.
What investigators say they are doing now
The U.S. Attorney’s Office told reporters it is teaming up with medical examiners, Homeland Security Investigations and local law enforcement to follow forensic leads and, where appropriate, make consular notifications. Investigators are asking anyone with information about the Laredo or San Antonio cases to contact the U.S. Attorney’s Office or local police. They also said that formal cause-of-death rulings are still pending. Per KENS5, laboratory testing has been part of the identification efforts in at least one of the cases.
Legal angle
If investigators ultimately find evidence of criminal smuggling or other conduct that caused these deaths, federal alien-smuggling statutes could come into play. Those laws carry steep penalties and have been used before in South Texas prosecutions. After the 2022 tractor-trailer deaths, the Western District of Texas charged defendants under those statutes, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office press release. The U.S. Department of Justice notice from 2022 shows prosecutors pursuing charges when investigations conclude that transportation activity resulted in death.
