Federal authorities announce ‘significant arrest’ in deadly 2022 San Antonio human smuggling case

SAN ANTONIO – A “significant arrest” was made in connection with a 2022 human smuggling incident that left 53 people dead and 11 injured in San Antonio.

Guatemalan police said Wednesday that seven Guatemalans had been arrested in the case. U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas Jaime Esparza will hold a press conference at 10 a.m. Thursday to provide details.

>> Guatemalan police arrest 7 people in San Antonio semi-trailer smuggling tragedy in 2022

Esparza will be joined by Joint Task Force Co-Directors Ian Hanna and Jim Hepburn. Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri of the Justice Department's Criminal Division will also be in attendance.

KSAT will broadcast the press conference live on KSAT.com, KSAT Plus and the KSAT YouTube channel. You can watch it in the video player above.

Interior Minister Francisco Jiménez told the Associated Press that the arrests were made after 13 raids in three departments of the country. Among those arrested was Rigoberto Román Mirnado Orozco, the suspected leader of the smuggling gang, whose extradition the United States has requested.

“This is a joint effort by the Guatemalan police and the Department of Homeland Security, as well as other national authorities, to dismantle the structures of human trafficking. This is one of the strategic objectives of President Bernardo Arévalo to control the phenomenon of irregular migration,” said Jiménez.

The incident on June 27, 2022 is considered one of the worst human smuggling tragedies in recent history. A large group of migrants were found trapped in a semi-trailer on a hot summer day, with no water, no air conditioning, and no way out on Quintana Road on the south side.

Several people were arrested in connection with the incident.

Luis Alberto Rivera-Leal, also known as “Cowboy,” pleaded guilty in February to endangering human life and conspiring to transport aliens, federal officials said. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Authorities said Rivera-Leal was part of an organization that smuggled adults and children from Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico to San Antonio, where he drove smaller groups to Houston.

On that fateful June day, the organization coordinated the transport of a group of migrants in a semi-trailer from Laredo to San Antonio.

The group was smuggled across Interstate 35 and the truck eventually stopped in the 9600 block of Quintana Road, where the migrants were found.

Riley Covarrubias-Ponce (31), Christian Martinez (29) and Juan Francisco D'Luna Bilbao have pleaded guilty to four counts, including conspiracy to transport illegal aliens resulting in death, conspiracy to transport illegal aliens resulting in death, and transportation of illegal aliens resulting in death, and transportation of illegal aliens resulting in serious bodily injury and danger to life.

Proceedings are pending against the driver of the truck, 47-year-old Homero Zamorano Jr. Proceedings are also pending against the other co-defendants Felipe Orduna-Torres (29) and Armando Gonzales-Ortega (54).

Covarrubias-Ponce, Orduna-Torres and others allegedly swapped names of the migrants smuggled in the semi-trailer before the incident, according to an earlier news release. They allegedly organized the “retrieval” of the semi-trailer before handing it over to Zamorano, officials said.