Members of a smuggling ring operating near the Laredo-Mexico border are in custody for their roles in a smuggling conspiracy that resulted in the death of a Guatemalan migrant in July. The smugglers continued their operations despite receiving messages from the victim, who was reportedly stranded in a ranch amid extreme heat conditions in July.
Three smuggling ring members—Mexican national David Alejandro Gómez Flores, 28, and Laredo residents Dagoberto Mizzael Flores, 24, and Angel Misael Elias, 22—appeared in court Monday morning. They were charged with smuggling an undocumented person, endangering lives, causing serious injuries, and contributing to a death.
Authorities had previously arrested three other ring members on the same charges: Guatemalan national Edy Ronaldo Lima Flores, 36, and Mexican nationals Cynthia Gabriela Muniz Carreon, 29, and Martha Angelica Limon Parra, 29.
Per court documents, the six defendants participated in a smuggling event on July 2. Authorities received a report of undocumented migrants loading into a Ford F-150 near a ranch in Laredo. When agents began pursuing the vehicle, the driver unexpectedly stopped and the migrants fled into the brush.
A Guatemalan woman was apprehended, and during their search for more migrants, authorities found the deceased body of a Guatemalan male in the brush. According to the official investigation, the victim was part of a previous smuggling bailout carried out by the defendants. Authorities recovered the victim's phone and discovered that the migrant wrote to Lima Flores and Carreon hours before his death, claiming that "a rancher had seen them, and that he was hiding in the brush."
While the migrant's cause of death is not explicitly detailed in the U.S. Attorney's incident report, the charges and circumstances indicate it was linked to the hazardous conditions inherent in the smuggling operation. Common causes of migrant deaths along the U.S.-Mexico border include: exposure to extreme heat, dehydration, exhaustion, and injuries sustained during their journey.
Additional cell phone records and ledgers led authorities to the other four ring members and uncovered previous smuggling events that had caused serious injuries and endangered the lives of other migrants. If convicted, the defendants could face fines of up to $250,000, life in prison, and possibly the death penalty.
The victim's death highlights the severe dangers associated with human smuggling. The International Organization for Migration recorded 686 migrant deaths and disappearances along the U.S.-Mexico border in 2022, and classified it as one of the deadliest land routes for migrants worldwide. The figure represents nearly half of the 1,457 migrant deaths and disappearances recorded throughout the Americas in 2022.
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