The men were sentenced in a federal court in Texas exactly three years following the mass casualty incident in San Antonio that resulted in the deaths of 47 adults and six children.
Felipe Orduna-Torres was sentenced to life in prison and a $250,000 fine. Prosecutors described Orduna-Torres as the leader of the smuggling operation.
Armando Gonzales-Ortega, his top assistant, was sentenced to 83 years and a $250,000 fine.
The federal system does not allow for parole.
The men worked together to facilitate the transportation of the migrants from Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico into the United States between December 2021 and June 2022, according to the DOJ.
The migrants paid between $12,000 and $15,000 each to be smuggled into country, prosecutors said.
In the days leading up to June 27, 2022, Orduna-Torres and others gathered the names of illegal immigrants who would be smuggled into a tractor-trailer. Gonzales-Ortega traveled to the Texas border city of Laredo to meet the tractor-trailer, where at least 64 illegal immigrants, including eight children and one pregnant woman, were loaded for smuggling.
The tractor-trailer had a broken air conditioning unit and the individuals crammed inside were trapped in the sweltering heat during a three-hour drive to San Antonio.
Most of them eventually passed out, according to investigators.
When the trailer was opened in San Antonio, 48 people were already dead. Another 16 were taken to hospitals, where five more died.
Six children and a pregnant woman were among the deceased.
Five other defendants in this case have pleaded guilty for their involvement in the smuggling event and are scheduled to be sentenced later this year.
The 2022 smuggling operation is considered the deadliest of tragedies in recent decades among attempts to cross the southern border. In 2017, ten illegal immigrants died after they were trapped inside a truck parked at a Walmart store in San Antonio. In 2003, the bodies of 19 illegal immigrants were found in a sweltering truck southeast of San Antonio.
“The terrain along the border is extreme, the summer heat is severe, and the miles of desert aliens must hike after crossing the border in many areas are unforgiving,” Border Patrol warned. “People who made the decision to make the dangerous journey into this territory have died of dehydration, starvation, and heat stroke despite CBP’s best efforts to locate them.”
In states such as Arizona and Texas, the desert heat during this time of year can be intense, with temperatures reaching 100 degrees and above.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
