Texas

Police Find 13 Migrants in San Antonio Tractor-Trailer Days After Dozens Died

The sheriff's office said all migrants are safe

San Antonio
Telemundo 20

Less than a week after 53 migrants died when they were left in an abandoned truck in San Antonio, officials in the same Texas city on Friday said 13 apparent migrants were found inside a tractor-trailer.

The Bexar County Sheriff's Office said officers found 13 presumed undocumented migrants inside the bed of the tractor-trailer near the 2000 block of South General McMullen Drive during a traffic stop, Telemundo 20 reports.

The sheriff's office said all migrants are safe. Further details on anyone who was detained or the driver who was arrested by law enforcement officials are not yet known.

The incident comes two days after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced he was expanding the state's border security operations by creating Texas public safety "strike teams" to "detect and deter unlawful border crossings" and "establishing new vehicle inspection checkpoints targeting semi-trucks."

Federal prosecutors late Wednesday announced smuggling charges against two men in connection with the deaths of 53 migrants after they were found Monday in San Antonio in a trailer without water or air conditioning.

Federal prosecutors identified the driver as Homero Zamorano Jr., 45, who was charged with smuggling resulting in death. Zamorano lives in the suburban Houston city of Pasadena and is originally from the Texas border city of Brownsville, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Antonio.

The people, believed to be part of a migrant smuggling operation, were found dead in San Antonio.

Andrew V. Pestano translated and contributed.

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