LThe bodies of at least 51 people were discovered Monday in a truck near San Antonio, Texas (southern United States), according to several local media, a means of transport frequently used by migrants wishing to enter the United States . Charles Hood, the city’s fire chief, said sixteen injured people – twelve adults and four children – had been taken care of and were “conscious” when transported to medical services. Among the victims are 22 Mexicans, seven Guatemalans and two Hondurans, other nationalities are unknown, according to Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
The tragedy, one of the worst in migration in recent years, comes five years after a similar tragedy in the same city, where ten illegal immigrants lost their lives in an overheated trailer. “We face a horrific human tragedy tonight,” said San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg. “We hope that those responsible for placing these people in such inhumane conditions will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The tragedy was called “absolutely horrifying” by a White House spokesperson.
Joe Biden called, in a press release, to “fight against the criminal trafficking, weighing several billion dollars, which exploits migrants and costs far too many innocent lives”. “The first information is that this tragedy was caused by […] traffickers who have no consideration for the lives they endanger and exploit to profit from them”, further indicated according to this text the American president, who is in Madrid where he is participating in a NATO summit. .
READ ALSOBaverez – War in Ukraine: the new clothes of non-alignment
Three people arrested
Trucks such as the one found in San Antonio, about 240 km from the border with Mexico, are a means of transport frequently used by migrants wishing to enter the United States. Such a trip is extremely dangerous, especially since these vehicles are rarely air-conditioned and their occupants quickly run out of water. “The patients we saw were hot to the touch, they were suffering from heat stroke, heat exhaustion, no water was found in the vehicle,” the fire chief said.
The mass grave was discovered by an individual working nearby who “heard a call for help” and approached to see what was going on, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said during the press conference. Three people were arrested, he said, but “we don’t know if they are absolutely connected to this or not”. The investigation, now federal, has been entrusted to investigators from the Department of Homeland Security, said William McManus.
Some 60 firefighters have been mobilized to take care of the remains and will receive psychological support, said their chief Charles Hood. “You’re not supposed to open a truck and find piles of bodies in it,” he said of the trauma his men faced.
Texas governor blames Biden
Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard regretted a “tragedy” on Twitter and indicated that the Mexican consul, although we do not “know the nationalities” of the victims, was going there. Republican Governor of Texas Greg Abbott immediately seized on the tragedy to blame it on Democratic President Joe Biden. “These deaths are [de la responsabilité de] Biden. They are the result of its deadly policy of open borders,” he said.
Tragedy in Texas. Reportedly suffocated in trailer box. Consul en route to the point. Condolences to the victims and their families. We don’t know nationalities yet. https://t.co/4d7hDErHwo
— Marcelo Ebrard (@m_ebrard) June 28, 2022
READ ALSOIn front of the press, Biden challenged on immigration
The arrivals of illegal migrants increased sharply after the election of Joe Biden, although the latter has been trying since his arrival at the White House to stem the migratory influx by notably entrusting this thorny file to his vice-president Kamala Harris. In 2017, a similar tragedy had marked the spirits: ten migrants had died in an overheated trailer parked in a parking lot near San Antonio.
At the time, the immigration services indicated that the temperature in the trailer, where dozens of migrants had taken place, could have risen to 65°C. The driver of the truck, who claimed not to have noticed that he was transporting around 100 people in his trailer, was sentenced in April 2018 to life without the possibility of parole.