McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — A federal grand jury has indicted a Texas man with smuggling a large group of over 100 migrants in a locked trailer, including children, the U.S. attorney’s office says.
Juan Manuel Aguirre, 49, has been charged with three counts of conspiracy to transport undocumented aliens and transporting undocumented aliens within the United States for financial gain, U.S. Attorney Alamdar Hamdani said Monday.
Aguirre, of Laredo, Texas, was arrested after authorities on Dec. 2 found 101 migrants locked inside a trailer, including 12 children, Hamdani said.
According to a criminal complaint, law enforcement observed the migrants being loaded into the trailer in a warehouse parking lot in Laredo. Law enforcement conducted a traffic stop and searched the vehicle, allegedly finding the migrants.
Two of the migrants reported they had trouble breathing and feared for their life due to the conditions in the trailer, according to the complaint.
Aguirre was booked into the Webb County Jail and released on Dec. 5 to a federal agency, according to Webb County Jail records.
Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI, Texas Department of Public Safety, and Border Patrol conducted the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation with the assistance of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Drug Enforcement Administration and the Webb County Sheriff’s Office involving this case, Hamdani’s office said.
Police and first responders work the scene where 53 people were found dead and 11 injured with heat-related illnesses after a tractor-trailer containing undocumented migrants was found on June 27, 2022, in San Antonio. (AP File Photo/Eric Gay, File)
Laredo is the same South Texas border city where a trailer was loaded with migrants from Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico and discovered in San Antonio, where 53 of the migrants died on June 27, 2022, and 11 were injured. Authorities say they traveled for hours in the locked trailer without air conditioning.
Several people have been charged in connection with those deaths.
Aguirre is expected to be arraigned before a U.S. magistrate soon.
If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison for each of the three counts and $250,000 in fines.
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.
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