Fifty people believed to be migrants to the United States have died after being abandoned in a tractor trailer in San Antonio, Texas, during a blazing heat wave Monday in one of the worst human trafficking tragedies in San Antonio, Texas. the history of the country.
Local authorities initially said 46 people had died in an 18-wheeled car found Monday night on a country road in the southeastern part of the city by a nearby worker. However, the death toll rose to 50 by Tuesday morning, a spokesman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service confirmed.
Local authorities said 16 people, including four children, were transported to nearby hospitals Monday night with signs of heat stroke and exhaustion. The trailer where the bodies were found is equipped with air conditioning, but does not appear to be working, officials said. Texas is experiencing a record heat wave, with temperatures rising above 38C (100F) in San Antonio on Monday.
“This is nothing but a horrific human tragedy,” San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg told a news conference.
Three people believed to be part of a human smuggling conspiracy have been detained, an ICE spokesman said.
Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has blamed President Joe Biden, whom he has long accused of having an “open borders” policy.
“These deaths belong to Biden. They are the result of his deadly policy of open borders. They show the deadly consequences of his refusal to enforce the law, “he tweeted on Monday night.
In a statement, Biden called the incident “horrific and heartbreaking” and said he stressed the need to “prosecute the multibillion-dollar criminal smuggling industry, which grabs migrants and leads to too many innocent deaths.”
The Biden administration has opposed calls to develop border policies since the Trump era, as it is struggling. On the one hand, he has been criticized by activists who describe the policies as inhumane, while on the other hand, Republicans are intolerant of portraying the president and his party as easy for illegal immigration.
Biden spokeswoman Karin Jean-Pierre dismissed Republican claims that President Biden had an “open borders” policy that was responsible for his death.
“The fact is that the border is closed, which is partly why you see people trying to make this dangerous journey using smuggling nets,” she said.
Abbott has cracked down on illegal immigration in Texas at the heart of his campaign for re-election as governor in November, deploying government resources and police officers at the border as part of what he called Operation Lone Star.
Migration levels in Texas have risen since the coronavirus pandemic, and government officials said they expect the number to continue rising this year. U.S. Customs and Border Patrols reported a record number of arrests at the border in May.
Beto O’Rourke, Abbott’s Democratic candidate and former presidential candidate, called the death “devastating.”
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“We need urgent action – to eliminate the circles of human smuggling and replace them with extended routes for legal migration, which reflect our values and meet the needs of our country,” he said.
The Supreme Court is likely to rule this week on whether or not the Biden administration can reject the Trump-era Stay in Mexico policy, which required asylum seekers to be detained or stay in Mexico while their cases are being heard, which is often the case. it may take years. The decision will sharpen the debate on immigration policy as snap elections approach.
The deaths are the latest in a number of cases in recent years, in which large groups of migrants have died while being smuggled into the United States, often in large trucks or vans in the hot summer heat. In July 2017, 10 people were found dead in a trailer in a Walmart parking lot in San Antonio.
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