The following information was provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas.
The U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas announced Friday that a federal grand jury in Del Rio has indicted 11 people, including three Del Rio residents, for their alleged roles in a human smuggling operation that resulted in the deaths of seven migrants found inside a railroad shipping container earlier this year.
According to the indictment, the alleged smuggling organization used cargo trains to transport illegal aliens farther into the United States after they crossed the Rio Grande near Del Rio. Prosecutors allege the operation led to the deaths of seven illegal aliens, including a 14-year-old child, after they were locked inside a sealed Conex shipping container with no ventilation or cooling system during warm May temperatures.
Among those indicted are Del Rio residents Karina Garcia, 37; Edson Alejandro Perez, 18; and Mayra Alejandra Huerta, 32. Prosecutors allege the defendants participated in a conspiracy that operated from at least April 2023 through May 12, 2026.
According to the indictment, the organization began facilitating the smuggling of at least seven illegal aliens from Acuña, Mexico, into the Del Rio area in late April 2026. On May 9, prosecutors allege the migrants were taken to an area near the Union Pacific railroad tracks in Del Rio, where smugglers used bolt cutters to open a Conex shipping container on a stationary train and loaded the group inside.
The shipping container was stacked on top of another container and had no ventilation or cooling system. Investigators said outside temperatures that day ranged from 88 to 92 degrees. The container was secured from the outside and could not be opened from the inside.
The train later traveled to San Antonio, where prosecutors allege smugglers opened the container, discovered the occupants were in distress and fled, leaving one deceased migrant near the railroad tracks and the remaining victims inside the container. The train later continued to Laredo, where six deceased migrants were discovered inside the container. Authorities later located the seventh victim near railroad tracks in San Antonio.
The deceased included four Mexican nationals and three Honduran nationals, including a 14-year-old child. According to investigators, at least one of the migrants sent a message to a loved one pleading for help.
In addition to the three Del Rio residents, those indicted include Seferino Huerta-Casillas, 35, of Mexico; Jonas Ulloa-Aguilera, 25, of Honduras; Maria Norma Neri de Moran, 56, of Mexico; Damian Huerta Analucas, 55, of Mexico; Rosario Cristal Lopez-Saldana, 26, of Mexico; Eric Hernandez, 40, of Eagle Pass; Franklin Williams Ayala Aguilera, 30, of Honduras; and Pascual Raymundo Loarca, 34, of Guatemala.
Mayra Alejandra Huerta was arrested May 12 in Del Rio and initially charged with one count of harboring illegal aliens. She has remained in federal custody and now faces two charges in the indictment. Federal prosecutors said eight other defendants were arrested during a multi-day Homeland Security Task Force operation across Central and South Texas. Karina Garcia and Seferino Huerta-Casillas remain at large.
All 11 defendants are charged with one count of conspiracy to transport illegal aliens resulting in death and one count of aiding and abetting the transportation of illegal aliens resulting in death. If convicted, each faces up to life in federal prison.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sarah Spears, Todd Keagle and Ashley Ellis-Dotson are prosecuting the case.
