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San Antonio police believe they uncovered a human smuggling operation after dozens of undocumented immigrants were found in the trailer of a semi-truck parked in a Walmart parking lot. Eight were found dead in the trailer and two more have died since being transported to the hospital. According to authorities, the air conditioning in the trailer was not working, and the temperature inside may have risen to as much as 115 degrees in a half hour.
The truck’s driver, James M. Bradley Jr., was arrested. On Monday morning, he was charged in a Texas federal court under a law “against knowingly transporting people who are in the country illegally.” If convicted, Bradley could face the death penalty or life in prison.
Per City Fire Chief Charles Hood, several of the victims had suffered intense heatstroke, and “a lot of them are going to have some irreversible brain damage.” Survivors told investigators that even more people were crammed inside the trailer before it was discovered, with some saying as many as 100 people were inside at one point. Surveillance footage showed people picking up people from the trailer for several hours prior to the trailer’s discovery by a Walmart employee.
“This represents a symptom of a broken immigration system that Congress, of which I am a part, has had the chance to fix but has not,” Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Tex.) said at a rally held Sunday. “That’s a colossal failure that has a human cost.”
(Via New York Times, My San Antonio & Washington Post)