SAN ANTONIO – Federal prosecutors have charged 11 people they say were part of a human smuggling organization linked to the deaths of seven migrants whose bodies were discovered in and around a shipping container that traveled from Del Rio to San Antonio and eventually Laredo in May.

A federal grand jury in Del Rio returned the indictment this week, charging 11 people from Texas, Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras in connection with the alleged smuggling ring.

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Those charged include Karina Garcia and Mayra Alejandra Huerta of Del Rio; Edson Alejandro Perez of Del Rio; Eric Hernandez of Eagle Pass; Seferino Huerta-Casillas, Maria Norma Neri de Moran, Damian Huerta Analucas and Rosario Cristal Lopez-Saldana of Mexico; Jonas Ulloa-Aguilera and Franklin Williams Ayala Aguilera of Honduras; and Pascual Raymundo Loarca of Guatemala.

Prosecutors allege the group operated a human smuggling network that used cargo trains to move migrants farther into the United States after they crossed the border illegally.

According to the indictment, the operation ran from at least April 2023 through May 12, 2026, with migrants or their families paying between $1,500 and $10,000 for the journey.

Prosecutors say seven migrants, including a 14-year-old child, were smuggled across the Rio Grande from Acuña, Mexico, into the Del Rio area before being taken to Union Pacific railroad tracks on May 9. Investigators allege smugglers used bolt cutters to remove the lock from a Conex shipping container, loaded the migrants inside and shut the door before the train departed.

Authorities said the shipping container had no ventilation or cooling system and was locked from the outside, preventing anyone inside from escaping. Outside temperatures that day ranged from 88 to 92 degrees. The train traveled east to San Antonio, where prosecutors say smugglers opened the container, found the migrants in distress and fled, allegedly leaving one victim’s body near the railroad tracks while abandoning the others inside the container.

The following day, a Union Pacific employee at the rail yard in Laredo spotted a leg protruding from the shipping container. Six migrants were found dead inside. Investigators later found a seventh victim near railroad tracks in San Antonio. The victims included four Mexican nationals and three Honduran nationals, including the 14-year-old. Prosecutors also allege at least one migrant sent a desperate message to a loved one pleading for help before dying.

All 11 defendants are charged with conspiracy to transport illegal aliens resulting in death and aiding and abetting the transportation of illegal aliens resulting in death. If convicted, each could face up to life in prison.

Huerta has remained in federal custody since her arrest in May, when she was initially charged with harboring undocumented migrants. Eight additional defendants were arrested during a multi-day Homeland Security Task Force operation across Central and South Texas last week. Prosecutors said Garcia and Huerta-Casillas remain at large.