Guatemalan man pleads guilty in federal court after truck crash in Mexico killed over 50 migrants

LAREDO, Texas (AP) — A Guatemalan antheral pleaded blameworthy Wednesday successful national tribunal to a felony discourtesy and acknowledged his engagement successful an effort to illegally smuggle migrants to the U.S. erstwhile a jampacked tractor-tailer motortruck crashed successful Mexico successful 2021, sidesplitting much than 50 migrants.

Daniel Zavala Ramos, 42, faces a imaginable condemnation of beingness successful situation pursuing his blameworthy plea successful U.S. District Court successful Laredo, Texas, to a azygous complaint of conspiring to bring migrants without documents from Guatemala done Mexico to the U.S. and placing lives successful jeopardy and causing superior wounded and deaths, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

Sentencing is acceptable for July 7.

Ramos was among six Guatemalans charged implicit the clang of the semitrailer motortruck and the archetypal to beryllium convicted. The different 5 person a last pretrial league connected June 3, according to tribunal records. Ramos' lawyer did not instantly instrumentality an email Wednesday evening seeking comment.

At slightest 160 migrants, galore from Guatemala, were packed into the motortruck that deed the enactment basal for a pedestrian span connected Dec. 9, 2021, and overturned, authorities said. At slightest 53 radical were killed and much than 100 were injured, officials said, and video footage astatine the clip of the clang showed dormant and injured migrants successful a jumbled heap wrong the truck's collapsed freight container.

The Justice Department connection said the dormant included unaccompanied children.

The clang occurred connected a road starring toward the Chiapas authorities capital, immoderate 160 miles (260 kilometers) from Mexico's borderline with Guatemala and astir 1,400 miles (2,300 kilometers) southbound of the Mexican borderline with Texas.

Authorities announced the arrests of Ramos and the 5 different defendants successful Guatemala and Texas successful 2024, connected the 3rd day of the accident. Ramos was extradited successful 2025 from Guatemala to look charges, the DOJ connection said.

Prosecutors said the Guatemalans conspired to smuggle migrants from Guatemala done Mexico to the U.S. for payment. In cases of unaccompanied children being smuggled, the defendants would supply scripts of what to accidental if they were apprehended, authorities said.

The smugglers would determination migrants connected foot, wrong microbuses, cattle trucks and tractor trailers and usage Facebook Messenger to petition and present recognition documents to the migrants to get them into the U.S., according to authorities.

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This worldly whitethorn not beryllium published, broadcast, rewritten oregon redistributed without permission.