Federal prosecutors say the organization used freight trains and sealed shipping containers to move migrants from the border into Texas.
DEL RIO, TX — Fourteen people have been charged in an alleged human smuggling conspiracy tied to the deaths of seven migrants, including a 14-year-old child, who were placed inside a poorly ventilated shipping container on a freight train in South Texas, the Justice Department said.
A federal grand jury in the Western District of Texas returned a superseding indictment expanding a case that initially charged 11 defendants in July. Prosecutors allege the organization operated from at least April 2023 through May 12, 2026, moving migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border and then deeper into the United States using freight trains, vehicles, stash houses and other smuggling routes. The indictment contains allegations, and all defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
According to prosecutors, migrants or their relatives paid smugglers in Honduras, Mexico, the United States and elsewhere between $1,500 and $10,000. The organization allegedly worked with other groups to coordinate routes, guides, drivers and places where migrants could be hidden after crossing the border near Del Rio. Investigators said some migrants were later loaded into shipping containers placed on freight trains traveling into the interior of Texas.
The deadly trip began after seven migrants were allegedly brought from Mexico into the Del Rio area on May 9. Prosecutors said smugglers took the group to Union Pacific tracks while a train was stopped and used bolt cutters to remove a lock from a Conex shipping container. The migrants were placed inside and the container was closed and secured from the outside. The container had no ventilation or cooling system, according to court documents, and could not be opened from inside.
Outside temperatures that day ranged from 88 to 92 degrees, investigators said. The train traveled east from Del Rio toward San Antonio. Prosecutors allege that when smugglers later opened the container in San Antonio, they found the migrants in serious distress. The smugglers then fled, authorities said. One person who had died was allegedly left near the railroad tracks, while the other six remained in the container as the train later continued south toward Laredo.
On May 10, a Union Pacific worker at a rail yard in Laredo noticed part of a person’s body visible from the container, according to federal authorities. Six people were found dead inside. Investigators in the San Antonio area later located the seventh person dead near railroad tracks. The Justice Department said four of those who died were Mexican nationals and three were Honduran nationals, including the 14-year-old. Investigators also determined that at least one person inside the container had contacted a loved one seeking help.
The superseding indictment charges 12 defendants with conspiracy to transport migrants resulting in death and with aiding and abetting transportation resulting in death. A conviction on those offenses can carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. Eleven defendants also face seven counts related to illegally bringing migrants into the United States, and 12 are charged with conspiracy to bring migrants into the country under circumstances that allegedly caused serious bodily injury and placed lives in danger.
Eleven defendants also face a money laundering conspiracy charge, prosecutors said. The Justice Department identified the 14 defendants as Karina Garcia, Edson Alejandro Perez, Seferino Huerta-Casillas, Jonas Ulloa-Aguilera, Mayra Alejandra Huerta, Maria Norma Neri de Moran, Damian Huerta Analucas, Rosario Cristal Lopez-Saldana, Eric Hernandez, Franklin Williams Ayala Aguilera, Pascual Raymundo Loarca, Juan Alvaro Membreno-Contreras, Yuri Julissa Cuaresma Paredes and Mavis Aleyda Escalante Peraza.
The investigation involves Homeland Security Investigations offices in Texas, Mexico and Honduras, U.S. Border Patrol and numerous federal, state and local agencies. The case is being prosecuted by the Justice Department’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas as part of federal efforts targeting transnational human smuggling organizations. The Justice Department had not announced trial dates or final case outcomes for the defendants in its Nov. 9 statement.
Author note: Last updated November 13, 2026.