The bodies of 46 immigrants were located on Monday inside the trailer of a truck parked on the outskirts of San Antonio, on the Texas (USA) border with Mexico, along with 16 other people who needed urgent medical assistance.
Although the authorities did not specify the nationalities of the deceased, nor the number of minors traveling in the vehicle, the mayor of San Antonio, Ron Nirenberg, confirmed that the victims were migrants who had crossed the border between Mexico and the United States. in the truck in the heat wave.
“It’s a tragedy. There are 46 people who had families and were looking for a better life,” Nirenberg said during a press conference held at night, and in which the arrest of three people apparently linked to the event was also confirmed.
The 16 people who needed medical assistance, including minors, were asphyxiated and suffering from dehydration, they reported.
The mayor linked the event to the human trafficking networks that operate on the border and added that he hopes that those “responsible for putting these people in subhuman conditions are convicted.”
Related news: They intercept 83 migrants, including a Nicaraguan, who were traveling in a trailer and a van in Mexico
The first alert call came around six in the afternoon, local time, from a worker in the area who heard cries for help and went over to see what was happening, confirmed the chief of the San Antonio Police Department. William McManus.
Although the authorities were very brief when it came to giving details of the event, the local newspaper The Texas Tribune explained that people who supposedly managed to jump from the truck were also located around the vehicle and that there were remains of species and preservatives in the trailer. of meat, possibly used to hide the smell of bodies.
According to the inhabitants of the city, the area where the trailer was located is a regular stop where groups of immigrants get off after crossing the border clandestinely due to its proximity to the train tracks.
exposed to high pressure
Temperatures in San Antonio reached 40ºC on Monday and authorities do not know how long the deceased spent inside the truck, which was abandoned by the driver before police located him and opened the inside of the trailer.
The closest border point is located more than 224 kilometers (140 miles).
At the moment, the Mexican consulate in San Antonio promised that it will provide support to all “Mexican nationals if there are any” and the Mexican Foreign Minister, Marcelo Ebrard, referred to the event on his social networks.
For his part, the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, took advantage of the event to link it to the immigration policy of US President Joe Biden.
“These deaths are Biden’s fault. They are the result of his deadly open border policies. They show the deadly consequences of his refusal to enforce the law,” the Republican politician said on his Twitter profile.
For his part, the Democratic candidate for governor of the state, Beto O’Rourke, called for “dismantling human smuggling networks and replacing them with expanded mechanisms for legal migration that reflect our values and meet the needs of our country.”
