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9 die in
immigrant-smuggling
attempt
in
sweltering
truck
By ERIC
GAY and
WILL
WEISSERT
ap.org
SAN
ANTONIO
- At
least
nine
people
died
after
being
crammed
into a
sweltering
tractor-trailer
found
parked
outside
a
Walmart
in the
midsummer
Texas
heat,
authorities
said
Sunday
in what
they
described
as an
immigrant-smuggling
attempt
gone
wrong.
The
driver
was
arrested,
and
nearly
20
others
rescued
from the
rig were
hospitalized
in dire
condition,
many
with
extreme
dehydration
and
heatstroke,
officials
said.
"We're
looking
at a
human-trafficking
crime,"
said San
Antonio
Police
Chief
William
McManus.
He
called
it "a
horrific
tragedy."
Authorities
were
called
to the
San
Antonio
parking
lot late
Saturday
night or
early
Sunday
and
found
eight
dead
inside
the
truck. A
ninth
victim
died at
the
hospital,
said Liz
Johnson,
spokeswoman
for U.S.
Immigration
and
Customs
Enforcement.
The
victims
"were
very hot
to the
touch.
So these
people
were in
this
trailer
without
any
signs of
any type
of
water,"
Fire
Chief
Charles
Hood
said.
Authorities
would
not say
whether
the
trailer
was
locked
when
they
arrived,
but they
said it
had no
working
air
conditioning.
It was
just the
latest
smuggling-by-truck
operation
to end
in
tragedy.
In one
of the
worst
cases on
record
in the
U.S., 19
immigrants
locked
inside a
stifling
rig died
in
Victoria,
Texas,
in 2003.
Based on
initial
interviews
with
survivors
of the
weekend
tragedy,
more
than 100
people
may have
been
packed
into the
back of
the
18-wheeler
at one
point in
its
journey,
ICE
acting
Director
Thomas
Homan
said.
Thirty-nine
were
inside
when
rescuers
arrived,
and the
rest
were
believed
to have
escaped
or
hitched
rides to
their
next
destination,
officials
said.
Some of
the
survivors
told
authorities
they
were
from
Mexico,
and four
appeared
to be
between
10 and
17 years
old,
Homan
said.
Investigators
gave no
details
on where
the rig
began
its
journey
or where
it was
headed.
But
Homan
said it
was
unlikely
the
truck
was used
to carry
the
immigrants
across
the
border
into the
United
States.
He said
people
from
Latin
America
who rely
on
smuggling
networks
typically
cross
the
border
on foot
and are
then
picked
up by a
driver.
"Even
though
they
have the
driver
in
custody,
I can
guarantee
you
there's
going to
be many
more
people
we're
looking
for to
prosecute,"
Homan
said.
Federal
prosecutors
said
James
Mathew
Bradley
Jr., 60,
of
Clearwater,
Florida,
was
taken
into
custody
and
would be
charged
on
Monday.
The U.S.
Homeland
Security
Department
stepped
in to
take the
lead in
the
investigation
from San
Antonio
police.
It was
not
immediately
known
whether
Bradley
had an
attorney
who
could
speak on
his
behalf.
The
truck
had an
Iowa
license
plate
and was
registered
to Pyle
Transportation
Inc. of
Schaller,
Iowa. A
company
official
did not
immediately
respond
to a
phone
message
seeking
comment.
San
Antonio
is about
a
150-mile
(240-kilometer)
drive
from the
Mexican
border.
The
temperature
in San
Antonio
reached
101
degrees
(38
Celsius)
on
Saturday
and
didn't
dip
below 90
(32 C)
until
after 10
p.m.
The
tragedy
came to
light
after a
person
from the
truck
approached
a
Walmart
employee
in the
parking
lot and
asked
for
water
late
Saturday
night or
early
Sunday
morning,
McManus
said.
The
employee
gave the
person
water
and then
called
police,
who
found
the dead
and the
desperate
inside
the rig.
Some of
those in
the
truck
ran into
the
woods,
McManus
said.
Investigators
checked
store
surveillance
video,
which
showed
vehicles
arriving
and
picking
up
people
from the
truck,
authorities
said.
In the
May 2003
case,
the
immigrants
were
being
taken
from
South
Texas to
Houston.
Prosecutors
said the
driver
heard
them
begging
and
screaming
for
their
lives
but
refused
to free
them.
The
driver
was
sentenced
to
nearly
34 years
in
prison.
"It's
sad that
14 years
later
people
are
still
being
smuggled
in
tractor-trailers,
there
still
isn't
water,
there
still
isn't
ventilation,"
Homan
said.
"These
criminal
organizations,
they're
all
about
making
money.
They
have no
regard
for
human
life."
The
Border
Patrol
has
reported
at least
four
truck
seizures
this
month in
and
around
Laredo,
Texas.
On July
7,
agents
found 72
people
crammed
into a
truck
with no
means of
escape,
the
agency
said.
They
were
from
Mexico,
Ecuador,
Guatemala
and El
Salvador.
Authorities
in
Mexico
have
also
made a
number
of such
discoveries
over the
years.
Last
December,
they
found
110
migrants
trapped
and
suffocating
inside a
truck
after it
crashed
while
speeding
in the
state of
Veracruz.
Most
were
from
Central
America,
and 48
were
minors.
Some
were
injured
in the
crash.
Last
October,
also in
Veracruz
state,
four
migrants
suffocated
in a
truck
carrying
55
people.
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