SAN ANTONIO, TX – JUNE 27: In this aerial view, members of law enforcement investigate a tractor trailer on June 27, 2022 in San Antonio, Texas. According to reports, at least 46 people, who are believed migrant workers from Mexico, were found dead in an abandoned tractor trailer. Over a dozen victims were found alive, suffering from heat stroke and taken to local hospitals. (Photo by Jordan Vonderhaar/Getty Images)
SAN ANTONIO (KTSA News) — A federal judge sentenced a Guatemalan man to 30 years in prison Tuesday for his role in the 2022 human smuggling tragedy that killed 53 illegal aliens in San Antonio.
Rigoberto Ramon Miranda-Orozco, 39, conspired with other smugglers to transport people from Guatemala through Mexico and into the United States, according to court documents.
The illegal immigratns were packed into a tractor-trailer that traveled about 156 miles from Laredo to San Antonio in 90-degree heat without functioning air conditioning. The trailer carried 64 people, including six juveniles and at least one pregnant woman.
Forty-eight people were pronounced dead at the scene along Quintana Road, and five others died at a local hospital.
Miranda-Orozco admitted arranging transportation and accommodations for illegal immigrants across Guatemala, Mexico and the United States. He was arrested in August 2024, extradited from Guatemala in March 2025 and pleaded guilty July 2 to his role in the mass-casualty smuggling operation.
His arrest was part of a broader investigation in which Guatemalan authorities executed multiple search and arrest warrants.
U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons for the Western District of Texas said Miranda-Orozco was personally responsible for smuggling two Guatemalans who died in the tragedy.
Simmons credited cooperation between U.S. law enforcement and Guatemala’s attorney general’s office for helping bring him to justice.
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