Death toll in San Antonio semitruck up to 51 migrants

The horrifying death toll of migrants packed inside the back of 18-wheel truck in San Antonio, Texas, rose to a staggering 51 victims by Tuesday — the highest ever in a smuggling incident in the United States.

“We’re not supposed to open up a truck and see stacks of bodies in there. None of us come to work imagining that,” Fire Chief Charles Hood said during a sobering press conference a day after the ghastly discovery.

Among the dead are 22 Mexicans, seven Guatemalans and two Hondurans, according to Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard.

Thirty-nine of the victims were male and 12 female, News 4 San Antonio reported. Of those, five were under 18.

“This is a horror that surpasses anything we’ve experienced before,” San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said. “And it’s sadly a preventable tragedy.”

The death toll set a grim U.S. record as the highest ever in a smuggling incident, said a Department of Homeland Security official in San Antonio.

The truck driver was among three people arrested.

The abandoned big rig was discovered Monday night in southwest San Antonio with no air conditioning or water, Hood said. Authorities believe the truck had mechanical problems.

“They had just parked it on the side of the road,” said Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff.

An employee at a nearby business heard a cry for help from the truck and found the doors partially open, police said. From the crack in the doors, the witness could see several bodies inside and one lying outside the truck.

Victims brought to the hospital were “hot to the touch” and many were too weak to even get out of the trailer themselves, he said.

Temperatures in the area reached 103 degrees Monday.

“We are in mourning,” Ebrard said Tuesday. “Huge tragedy.”

The truck had U.S. and Texas Department of Transportation registration numbers on the cab tied to a man in Alamo, the Washington Post reported, but that man’s son-in-law told the outlet he had nothing to do with the truck and believed the numbers were faked.

Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott pointed the finger of blame at President Biden, calling the deaths “the deadly consequences of his refusal to enforce” border laws.

Biden’s press secretary said the opposite is true.

“The fact of the matter is, the border is closed, which is in part why you see people trying to make this dangerous journey using smuggling networks,” Karine Jean-Pierre said.

In May, Customs and Border Protection officials at the southern border came across 30% more unauthorized migrants than a year earlier, according to federal data.

“Exploiting vulnerable individuals for profit is shameful, as is political grandstanding around tragedy, and my administration will continue to do everything possible to stop human smugglers and traffickers from taking advantage of people who are seeking to enter the United States between ports of entry,” Biden said Tuesday.

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Border officials find trucks with migrants inside “pretty close” to daily, a DHS official said. Migrants will pay from $8,000 to $10,000 for a spot in the back of a big rig, the official said. After the trucks get to San Antonio, those smuggled into the country are shifted into smaller vehicles and taken to other parts of the United States.

The ongoing investigation is expected to involve the Department of Homeland Security.

“I am heartbroken by the tragic loss of life today and am praying for those still fighting for their lives. Far too many lives have been lost as individuals — including families, women, and children — take this dangerous journey,” DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas tweeted Monday night.

“Human smugglers are callous individuals who have no regard for the vulnerable people they exploit and endanger in order to make a profit. We will work alongside our partners to hold those responsible for this tragedy accountable and continue to take action to disrupt smuggling networks.”

The gruesome discovery stunned residents of San Antonio.

“They were human beings,” Israel Martinez, 68, co-owner of USA Auto Parts, told CNN. “It was terrible. We [migrants] come to this country for a better life, and yesterday reminded many of us that sadly, some of us achieve it but many others don’t do it.”

With News Wire Services