human smuggling
Nearly 50 dead migrants found in Texas truck
The police cordon off the place where a truck trailer with dozens of bodies was discovered. Photo: Eric Gay/AP/dpa
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At the border between Mexico and the US state of Texas, a particularly large number of people are currently trying to get to the United States. Authorities make a horrific discovery in a truck trailer in San Antonio, Texas.
Terrible find in the blistering heat: 46 migrants who were allegedly illegally brought to the United States were found dead in the trailer of a parked truck on the outskirts of the Texan city of San Antonio.
On Tuesday, a local hospital reported two more deaths. According to US media, this is the deadliest human smuggling case in recent US history. A worker heard a call for help from the trailer on Monday evening (local time) and eventually discovered the bodies, local police chief William McManus said. The number of unauthorized border crossings has been record high in recent months.
It was 40 degrees in San Antonio
At least 16 other people, including children, were initially taken to hospital with heat exhaustion and apparent dehydration, it said. There was no visible working air conditioning in the trailer, said San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood. “They felt hot, had heat stroke, there was no sign of water in the vehicle,” he said of the victims. In San Antonio it was around 40 degrees on Monday. Three people were arrested. “We don’t know if they’re actually involved or not,” McManus said. The investigations were given to the federal authorities.
The authorities were initially unable to provide any information on the nationality of the victims. San Antonio is approximately 250 kilometers from the Mexican border. The US authorities picked up a good 239,000 people at the border with Mexico in May alone. The number could rise to more than two million by September – that would be a record number of arrests in one year. Most of the people come from South America. Recently, however, the number of migrants from Turkey, India, Russia and Ukraine had also increased.
There are always fatal incidents
Criminal smuggling organizations operating inside the US often transport migrants in trucks after they have already crossed the US border. They are supposed to be smuggled past road checkpoints near the border. There have been a number of fatal incidents in recent years – but the current incident is considered the deadliest. In September, thousands of migrants gathered under a bridge in Del Rio, Texas, on the border with Mexico. The aggressive driving back of the migrants by US border guards on horses at the Rio Grande border river caused international outrage at the time.
“San Antonio is a gateway to America. And that’s how incidents like this happen all the time,” said the city’s mayor, Ron Nirenberg. He made serious allegations against the US government. The loss of life is a “product of decades of government inaction”. It’s not about any particular US government. “But it’s just a sad irony and a sad truth that we have millions of unfilled jobs, thousands in our own communities, because there just aren’t enough workers,” Nirenberg said. At the same time, there is no way to get people who want to work into these jobs.
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre called the incident “absolutely horrific and heartbreaking”. US President Joe Biden will be kept up to date on this on a regular basis. The terrible find also caused horror internationally. It is not the first tragedy of this kind, said spokeswoman for the UN human rights office, Ravina Shamdasani. It makes it clear that there must be safe routes for migrants.
Currently, migrants at the US border are being denied the right to asylum enshrined in international law as well as in US law. The handle, called Title 42, provides that most undocumented migrants are immediately turned away at the border without even being able to apply for asylum. This is justified with the pandemic. US President Joe Biden wanted to lift the restriction – but a judge blocked this.