A Del Rio woman turned herself in over the weekend. Karina Garcia, 37, had been on the run for weeks. She now faces charges that could put her in prison for life.
Garcia is one of 11 people charged in a smuggling case. The case is tied to the deaths of seven migrants. Most of the bodies were found in a sealed train car near Laredo. One more was found near train tracks in San Antonio.
The case made news all over the country. Smugglers packed people into a metal box. It had no air. It had no cool air inside. It could not be opened from the inside. The box sat in the Texas heat for two days. Then workers found the bodies. Laredo is close to the Rio Grande Valley. This case has shaken border towns all over South Texas.
Garcia faces two charges. The first charge says she helped move people across the border in a way that caused their deaths. The second charge says she took part in that same crime. Both charges together could mean life in prison.
Court records say the deaths happened in May. Smugglers put seven migrants into a sealed box in Del Rio. A train pulled the box north. It stopped in San Antonio. There, workers found one person dead near the tracks. The train rolled on to Laredo. The next day, workers found six more bodies in the box.
The seven who died were four people from Mexico and three from Honduras. One was a boy, just 14 years old. The government says smugglers charged each migrant $1,500 to $10,000 for the trip north. No one has shared the names of the dead.
U.S. Attorney Justin Simmons talked about the case back in July, when the charges came out.
"It's May, and it's Texas, and ultimately, very hard to survive in an un-air-conditioned, sealed container with... the temperature being what it was on that day," Simmons said.
He also had a warning for anyone who might try to cross the border without papers.
"The message today is this: Those thinking about entering this country illegally, don't. There is a legal pathway for you to come into this country," Simmons said.
Agents say this smuggling group worked for more than three years before the deaths in May. They say the group moved migrants north for cash.
Nine of the 11 people in this case were already in jail before Garcia turned herself in. Her surrender leaves just one more person missing. Seferino Huerta-Casillas, 35, of Mexico, is still on the run. Agents may need Mexico to send him back here for trial.
Another defendant is Mayra Alejandra Huerta, 32, of Del Rio. Court records say she had already faced a charge once before for hiding migrants in her home. The rest of the group is from Del Rio, Eagle Pass, Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala. They range in age from 18 to 56.
Garcia will go to court soon in West Texas for her first hearing. The U.S. Attorney's Office says she faces no new charges. It is not yet known if she has a lawyer. It is not known if she will ask for bond.
This case shows how deadly smuggling has become on the Texas border. Migrants often pay big money to ride in trucks, trailers or train cars. These spaces have little air and no safety checks. When something goes wrong inside, there is often no way out.
El Tejano will keep following this case in court. That includes any news on the search for the last fugitive.
