Felipe Orduna-Torres and Armando Gonzales-Garcia were sentenced to life in prison. They were instrumental actors in a horrific migrant smuggling scheme that left 53 migrants dead in Texas. A federal jury found the two men guilty on multiple counts. They face engagement in smuggling people from Mexico and South America from December 2021 to June 2022. The suit sheds light on the extreme danger that migrants experience and the human trafficking networks that are taking advantage of their desperation.
Orduna-Torres was the leader of an organized crime group that facilitated and smuggled people across the U.S. southern border. He and Gonzales-Garcia communicated on routes, vehicles, stash houses, and transporters to minimize expenses and maximize profits. The migrants paid $12,000-15,000 per person for the perilous trip. They started on this journey, propelled by the promise of a brighter future in the United States.
On June 27, 2022, federal authorities received a tip that led to a shocking discovery in Texas. They uncovered a tractor-trailer with 64 undocumented migrants from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. Tragically, just 11 people survived the perilous journey in the steaming hot rig. In the opposite case, 53 of their fellow Americans – six of them children – lost their lives to the unbearable heat and poor ventilation.
U.S. District Federal Judge Orlando Garcia sentenced Orduna-Torres to life in prison. Prior to his plea, Gonzales-Garcia was looking at an 83-year mandatory sentence, virtually a life sentence. Both defendants were fined $250,000 each. The human trafficking scheme began in Laredo, Texas. There, they crammed the migrants into an 18 wheeler for a three hour drive to San Antonio.
When officials opened up the truck at the end of that trip, they found a death trap. False enough that by the time fire crews arrived, dozens inside had already succumbed to the brutal heat. At least three dozen survivors were taken to area hospitals, where five more people would die from their injuries.
Orduna-Torres and Gonzales-Garcia are not uniquely fortunate in this regard. In addition to Quigley, five other men have pleaded guilty for their roles in the smuggling ring and await sentencing over the coming months.
Justin Simmons, addressed the gravity of the situation:
“Three years to the day after these two smugglers and their co-conspirators left dozens of men, women and children locked in a sweltering tractor-trailer to die in the Texas summer heat, they learned that they will spend the rest of their lives locked away in a federal prison.”