SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Federal officials announced significant developments in a South Texas human smuggling investigation linked to the death of seven immigrants. <\/p>\n
U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons and U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons and Homeland Security Investigations San Antonio Special Agent in Charge John A. Pasciucco announced the indictments of 11 people connected to the investigation during a Friday morning news conference. <\/p>\n
The identities of the indicted are: <\/p>\n
Franklin Williams Ayala Aguilera<\/p>\n
Jonas Ulloa-Aguilera<\/p>\n
Damian Huerta Analucas<\/p>\n
Karina Garcia<\/p>\n
Eric Hernandez<\/p>\n
Mayra Alejandra Huerta<\/p>\n
Seferino Huerta-Casillas<\/p>\n
Pascual Raymundo Loarca<\/p>\n
Rosario Cristal Lopez-Saldana<\/p>\n
Maria Norma Neri de Moran<\/p>\n
Edson Alejandro Perez <\/p>\n
Simmons said five suspects are non-U.S. citizens, four are U.S. citizens and two are \u201clawful, permanent\u201d U.S. residents. Of those indicted, law enforcement is actively searching for two suspects \u2014 Karina Garcia and Seferino Huerta-Casillas. <\/p>\n
All 11 are facing the following charges: <\/p>\n
conspiracy to transport aliens resulting in death <\/p>\n
aiding and abetting the transportation of aliens resulting in death<\/p>\n
If convicted, each charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. <\/p>\n
\u201cThose thinking about entering this country illegally: don\u2019t,\u201d Simmons said Friday. \u201cThere is a legal pathway for you to come into this country. You do not have to hand your life over to smugglers and the cartels with which they work because they don\u2019t care about your life.\u201d <\/p>\n
The train\u2019s path<\/p>\n
The bodies of six immigrants were found just after 3:30 p.m. on May 10, 2026, at a rail yard in the 12000 block of Jim Young Way, which is located approximately 15 miles north of downtown Laredo.<\/p>\n
In a previous news release, the Webb County Medical Examiner\u2019s Office identified five of the six immigrants found in Laredo:<\/p>\n
A 56-year-old man from Mexico<\/p>\n
A 45-year-old man from Mexico<\/p>\n
A 29-year-old woman from Mexico<\/p>\n
A 24-year-old man from Honduras<\/p>\n
A 14-year-old boy from Honduras<\/p>\n
The Webb County Medical Examiner\u2019s Office determined the woman from Mexico died due to hyperthermia. Officials believe it is likely they all suffered the same cause of death.<\/p>\n
A seventh person, a Mexican resident believed to be connected to those found in Laredo, was discovered on May 11, 2026, along railroad tracks in southwest Bexar County, Sheriff Javier Salazar said two months ago. <\/p>\n
Simmons said Friday that the immigrants were in a shipping container carried on a train from Del Rio to Laredo. As the train arrived in San Antonio, the U.S. attorney said the body of that seventh person \u201cfell out of the (train) car\u201d and \u201cleft for dead.\u201d The train then continued its trek to Laredo. <\/p>\n
The seventh immigrant, a man, was later identified as Nereo Aguilar Garcia, 49, according to the Bexar County Medical Examiner\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n
According to Simmons, individuals paid the human smuggling organization between $1,500 and $10,000 to get them across the U.S.-Mexico border. <\/p>\n
Pasciucco credited the Homeland Security Task Force\u2019s \u201ccritical role\u201d in Friday\u2019s federal indictments. <\/p>\n
\u201cBy leveraging the expertise and resources of our HSTF partners, we have coordinated efforts across agencies, shared vital intelligence and enhance the effectiveness of our enforcement actions in a short period of time,\u201d Pasciucco said. <\/p>\n
In addition to the DOJ and HSI, Pasciucco said the U.S. Border Patrol and Laredo Police Department contributed to the federal investigation. <\/p>\n
More coverage of this story on KSAT:<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Federal officials announced significant developments in a South Texas human smuggling investigation linked to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386217,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4755,698,294,54675,1724,7686,27,29,28,33188],"class_list":["post-386216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-bcso","tag-bexar-county","tag-crime","tag-human-smuggling","tag-immigration","tag-laredo","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-webb-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}