A Guatemalan national was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Oct. 20 for his part in a 2022 mass casualty human smuggling case in which 53 people died, and 11 were injured.
Rigoberto Ramon Miranda-Orozco, 39, a citizen of Guatemala, was sentenced for his involvement in the July 27, 2022, case out of San Antonio, Texas, according to a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) press release.
On July 2, 2026, Miranda-Orozco pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bring an alien into the United States resulting in death; aiding and abetting bringing an alien into the United States resulting in death; and aiding and abetting bringing an alien into the United States resulting in serious bodily injury, the press release stated.
Miranda-Orozco helped coordinate the smuggling of illegal immigrants from Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico into the United States between 2021 and 2022. According to the DOJ, he admitted that he arranged the illegal immigrants’ transportation and accommodations throughout Guatemala, Mexico, and the United States.
He was arrested in Guatemala in August 2024 prior to his extradition to the United States. His arrest was part of a Guatemalan law enforcement operation which included multiple search and arrest warrants. He was extradited in March 2025.
“Of the dozens of deceased aliens found in the tractor-trailer in June 2022, 21 of those were from Guatemala—a country that Mirando-Orozco called home and a place where he thought he could hide from justice. He was wrong,” said U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas Justin R. Simmons.
“Thanks to our law enforcement efforts and our strong partnership with the Office of the Attorney General of Guatemala, he was found, extradited, and will now spend the rest of his life in a U.S. federal prison.”
Seven others had previously pleaded guilty or were convicted of felony charges in the smuggling case.
The 53 illegal immigrants were part of a group of 64, including six children and one pregnant woman. The pregnant woman and one of the children were among those who died from overheating in a tractor-trailer while traveling through Texas.
Alfonso holds a picture of 13-year-old Pascual Melvin Guachiac, who died in a trailer with others in San Antonio, Texas, U.S., at Tzucubal, in Nahuala, Guatemala, on June 29, 2022. Reuters/Sandra Sebastian
A DOJ statement said there was evidence that the smugglers knew the truck’s air conditioning system would not provide cooling for the illegal immigrants in the trailer.
The temperature that day exceeded 90 degrees, according to the statement.
The 18-wheeler left Laredo, Texas, on the Mexican border that morning and traveled to San Antonio. The illegal aliens spent about three hours in the truck’s trailer. The Justice Department stated that the smugglers found 48 dead when the truck arrived in San Antonio. Sixteen others were taken to the hospital, where five later died.
Authorities were alerted to the abandoned truck that day by 911 callers who reported hearing cries for help, former San Antonio Police Chief William McManus told the Texas Tribune.
The DOJ press release reiterated the Trump administration’s vow to crack down on human trafficking and illegal immigration.
“Alien smuggling organizations rely on people like Miranda-Orozco to facilitate their criminal conspiracies,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
Applying Pressure
“Under President Trump, the Criminal Division and Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA) will sustain maximum pressure on these dangerous criminals to hold them accountable for preventable tragedies and protect our borders,” Duva said.
JTFA was established by former U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2021 to address human smuggling taking place in Central America, the DOJ said.
Homeland Security Investigations’ (HSI) San Antonio office led the U.S. efforts. They worked with HSI Guatemala, and the HSI Human Smuggling Unit in Washington, D.C.
Various other federal agencies, as well as Guatemalan law enforcement and the Guatemalan Attorney General’s Office and Anti-Human Smuggling Unit, made the arrest, extradition, and ultimate sentencing possible, the DOJ press release said.
Aldgra Fredly and Matt McGregor contributed to this report.
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