Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Tuesday blamed the death of over 50 migrants in San Antonio, Texas on trafficking, poverty and desperation, and a “lack of control” at the Mexico-United States (US) border, as well as in the US interior. He described the incident as a “tremendous tragedy” in which at least 27 Mexicans, seven Guatemalans, and two Hondurans have reportedly died; several children have also been hospitalised due to heat stroke, exhaustion, and severe dehydration.
Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard declared in a tweet yesterday that Mexico has launched its own investigation into the deaths, led by Attorney General Dr. Alejandro Gertz Manero. A team will be dispatched to the US this weekend in order to launch a joint investigation with the US’ Department of Homeland Security. Ebrard revealed that he had spoken with DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and pledged to “work together to find and punish those responsible.”
Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei also met with Mayorkas in Washington yesterday and discussed methods to strengthen the “fight against transnational crime and illegal human trafficking,” in a clear reference to the Texas tragedy.
I am heartbroken by the tragic loss of life today and am praying for those still fighting for their lives. Far too many lives have been lost as individuals – including families, women, and children – take this dangerous journey.
— Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas (@SecMayorkas) June 28, 2022
Meanwhile, the US President Joe Biden has called the deaths “horrifying and heartbreaking,” and revealed that the DHS has initiated a probe. In a statement on Tuesday, he placed the blame at the feet of “smugglers or human traffickers who have no regard for the lives they endanger and exploit to make a profit.”
He thus underscored the need to target the criminal smuggling industry, noting that the US has made more than 2,400 arrests since the start of the year. He declared, “My administration will continue to do everything possible to stop human smugglers and traffickers from taking advantage of people who are seeking to enter the United States between ports of entry.”
This follows the discovery of over 50 migrants trapped inside an abandoned tractor-trailer in the scorching heat of Texas, wherein dozens died of heat stroke and exhaustion. 16 people, including four children, were hospitalised and are being treated for extreme dehydration.
Yesterday's loss of life in San Antonio is horrifying – my prayers are with those who lost their lives, their loved ones, and those still fighting for their lives.
— President Biden (@POTUS) June 28, 2022
My Administration will continue to do everything possible to stop criminal smugglers from exploiting migrants.
The driver of the truck and two other people have been arrested, including two Mexican nationals living in the US illegally. The two illegal immigrants have been charged with the “possession of a weapon by an alien illegally in the US,” with the truck driver claiming he did not know whether migrants were still in the truck after he crossed the border checkpoint.
Rubén Minutti Zanatta, the Consul General of Mexico in San Antonio, revealed that he has received 30 requests from Mexicans who are looking for their missing relatives. José Luis Guzmán Vásquez is so far the lone surviving Mexican, according to authorities.
San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said this was a “preventable tragedy,” stating that “this is a horror that surpasses anything we’ve experienced before.”
San Antonio has for years functioned as a major transit corridor that is regularly exploited by migrant smugglers, making South Texas the busiest area for illegal border crossings. Authorities find trucks loaded with migrants almost daily, according to Craig Larrabee, an officer of the Homeland Security Investigations in San Antonio. The migrants “are treated like commodities rather than people,” he told CNN.
As a result, the route has accounted for similar tragedies earlier. In 2018, for instance, 50 migrants were rescued from a trailer whose driver was then sentenced to five years in prison. Likewise, in 2017, ten migrants died after being trapped inside a truck in San Antonio; the driver was sentenced to life without parole.
'Texas has done just about everything wrong that I can think of … We dehumanize [migrants]. We make people think that they are something less than us and they are not less than us.'
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) June 29, 2022
Judge Nelson W. Wolff slammed TX leaders following the death of 51 migrants in San Antonio. pic.twitter.com/9HR3kViVzI
Monday’s deaths have been linked to strict border regulations in the US, specifically under the pandemic era Title 42 rules, wherein the Biden administration’s efforts to overturn it were blocked by a District Judge last month. It has enabled the expulsion of migrants without any legal consequences, which has often led to repeated and dangerous attempts by those desperate to seek asylum in the country. In fact, smugglers often charge between $8,000 and $10,000 to transport migrants into the US.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy director at the American Immigration Council, highlights that with the US border being “shut as tightly as it is today for migrants from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, people have been pushed into more and more dangerous routes.”
In fact, the US Customs and Border Protection turned away a record 239,416 migrants at the country’s southwest border in May alone, which is 180,597 more than at the same time last year.
The painful death of more than 40 migrants in Texas shows the repressive, discriminatory & exclusionary behavior against migrants, which has become common practice in US.
— Bruno Rodríguez P (@BrunoRguezP) June 28, 2022
Our heartfelt condolences to the relatives of the victims & wishes for the prompt recovery of the injured.
The United Nations International Organization for Migration recorded 651 deaths in 2021 at the border, the highest since 2014.
Keeping this in mind, at the 9th Americas Summit convened in Los Angeles earlier this month, the Biden administration proposed a migration pact with the regional leaders to address the issue of unsafe and illegal cross border journeys. The Summit, however, was boycotted by Obrador and several other regional leaders over the exclusion of Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua.
Against this backdrop, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has condemned the incident and called for “cooperative work” between the US and Mexico, in line with the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration and the Global Compact on Refugees to address and prevent such unnecessary deaths that are linked to human smuggling syndicates.