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The death toll of undocumented migrants neglected in a searing trailer in Texas rose to 51 on Tuesday, as President Joe Biden faulted the tragedy on “criminal” professional smugglers.
Bexar County official Rebeca Clay-Flores reported a new death toll of “39 men and 12 women” following the discovery of the tractor-trailer on a separated road in her district on Monday.
She did not say how many evacuees were still in the hospital, but based on preliminary figures, the number could be around 11, including four children.
As Biden targeted people-trafficking gangs, the Department of Homeland Security announced the release of a criminal investigation.
“The tragic loss of life that occurred yesterday in San Antonio, Texas is horrifying and heart wrenching,” he said in a statement.
“This incident emphasises the need to go after the multibillion-dollar criminal smuggling industry that preys on migrants and causes far too many innocent casualties,” he said.
Extreme heat
According to court documents, federal agents arrested two men on Tuesday at the address associated with the tractor-registration. trailer’s
The documents claimed that Juan Francisco D’Luna-Bilbao and Juan Claudio D’Luna-Mendez, both Mexican nationals with expired US tourist visas, were illegally in possession of multiple firearms.
A third person, suspected of being the tractor-trailer driver, was arrested nearby while “very high on meth,” according to a law enforcement officer, according to the local daily San Antonio Express-News.
As per Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, 22 of the dead have been identified as Mexicans, seven as Guatemalans, and two as Hondurans.
“It’s a terrible misfortune,” he said to reporters.
It was the world’s most dangerous single incident encompassing migrants along the southern border in recent memory, drawing attention to the dangers that hundreds of thousands of people face trying to enter the United States illegally from Mexico.
The high temperature in San Antonio on Monday was 103 degrees Fahrenheit (39.4 degrees Celsius), and the heat inside the unvented trailer would have been significantly higher.
Officials had removed the trailer from where it had been neglected with its human cargo, on a narrow road sandwiched between railway lines and auto junkyards, by Tuesday afternoon.
It was replaced by makeshift passes adorned with artificial flowers.
“I believe that if these people have walked hundreds of miles to get here, it wouldn’t hurt us to walk maybe one mile to place the crosses and candles,” Angelita Olvera, who lives nearby, said.
“Hopefully, whoever was in the trailer will pay the price,” she said.
