A federal grand jury in the Western District of Texas has returned a superseding indictment charging 14 people in total over an alleged human smuggling organization that, prosecutors say, moved migrants into the United States on cargo trains — including a May journey in a sealed, unventilated shipping container in which seven people died, among them a 14-year-old child from Honduras. Three defendants were added this week to the 11 first charged in July, and the new indictment adds charges of illegally bringing migrants into the country and conspiracy to commit money laundering, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
The 14 defendants are four U.S. citizens, three other noncitizens and seven people federal officials say are in the country illegally, according to the Justice Department. The Texas residents named include Karina Garcia, 37, of Del Rio; Edson Alejandro Perez, 18, of Del Rio; Mayra Alejandra Huerta, 32, of Del Rio; and Eric Hernandez, 40, of Eagle Pass. All defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
Source: KEDT / Houston Public Media
What prosecutors say happened in May
According to court documents described by the Justice Department, the organization had operated since at least April 2023, coordinating routes, guides, stash houses and drivers with other smuggling groups. Migrants were crossed from Mexico near Del Rio, held in stash houses or hidden in brush along the Rio Grande, and then loaded into shipping containers to travel further into the interior. In February 2026 the group began arranging the journey of at least seven people, including the 14-year-old, into Del Rio.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
On or about May 9, after the seven were crossed into the Del Rio area, smugglers took them to Union Pacific tracks while a train was stationary and, between about 1:18 p.m. and 1:25 p.m., allegedly cut the lock off a Conex shipping container with red bolt cutters, loaded the seven inside and shut the door, prosecutors say. The container was stacked on top of another, had no ventilation or cooling, was secured from outside and could not be opened from inside. Outside temperatures that day were recorded at 88 to 92 degrees Fahrenheit.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
The train travelled east along U.S. Highway 90 to San Antonio. When smugglers opened the container there, they found the people inside in peril and fled, allegedly leaving one of the deceased near the railroad tracks, the Justice Department said. The rest were left in the container as the train continued south the next day toward Laredo. On May 10, a worker at the Union Pacific rail yard in Laredo saw a leg sticking out of the container; six people were found dead inside, and San Antonio officers later found the seventh victim by the tracks there. Four of the dead were Mexican nationals and three were Honduran, including the child. Investigators say at least one victim had messaged a loved one pleading for help.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
An indictment is merely an allegation. All 14 defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The account above is the prosecution's version as set out in court documents and the Justice Department's announcement; none of the defendants has been convicted in this case.
What officials said
"Seven people are dead as the result of another callous alien smuggling scheme," said U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons for the Western District of Texas, noting there have been multiple rail-car smuggling interdictions in recent months. Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Criminal Division said the defendants allegedly showed "no regard for the value of human life" and treated people "like cargo for their own financial gain." John A. Pasciucco, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in San Antonio, said the network allegedly used cargo trains and sealed containers "in conditions that were inhumane and deadly."
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
The charges and the penalties
Twelve defendants are charged with conspiracy to transport migrants resulting in death and aiding and abetting transportation resulting in death, which carry a maximum of life in prison. Eleven face seven counts of aiding and abetting illegally bringing migrants into the United States — a minimum of five years and a maximum of 15 if convicted on at least three counts — and 11 are charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, carrying up to 20 years. Twelve are also charged with conspiracy to bring migrants into the country causing serious bodily injury and placing lives in jeopardy, carrying up to 20 years.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
Background: the train route and the wider crackdown
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations offices from Del Rio to Dallas and in Mexico and Honduras, with the Border Patrol, the Texas Department of Public Safety, sheriff's offices, San Antonio and Laredo police and Union Pacific Railroad Police, among others. It is supported by the Justice Department's Joint Task Force Alpha, set up to combat smuggling by cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and by the Homeland Security Task Force created under Executive Order 14159. Prosecutors are Trial Attorney Paige Petersen of the Criminal Division's Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sarah Spears, Todd Keagle and Ashley Ellis-Dotson.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
Why this matters beyond South Texas
Freight corridors are the working world of many Punjabi and South Asian truckers and logistics workers in Texas, and enforcement officials say smugglers have repeatedly turned to rail cars and commercial freight to move people past highway checkpoints. The Del Rio–San Antonio–Laredo corridor along Highway 90 is one of the routes where that pattern has now produced its deadliest alleged case: a sealed container, summer heat, and no way out from inside.
What happens next
The superseding indictment expands the July case rather than starting a new one: the added defendants and the new money-laundering and bringing-in charges will now proceed together in the Western District of Texas. No trial date has been announced. Defendants found outside the United States or not yet arrested in earlier stages of the case remain subject to arrest, and each faces the presumption of innocence at trial. Awaaz Punjab will follow arraignments, any plea agreements and the trial.