A federal grand jury in Del Rio, Texas returned an indictment charging 11 people in an alleged human smuggling network that placed seven migrants in a shipping container in May, a case that ended with seven deaths and sparked a multiagency criminal response.

A federal grand jury charged 11 defendants with conspiracy to transport illegal aliens resulting in death and aiding and abetting transport of illegal aliens resulting in death. The indictment ties the defendants to an operation that moved migrants inside cargo containers on trains after they crossed from Mexico into the United States.

The indictment states the criminal activity ran from at least April 2023 through May 12, 2026, and involved using cargo trains to move migrants deeper into the country. Migrants or their families allegedly paid smugglers between $1,500 and $10,000 to facilitate the journeys.

• Karina Garcia, 37, of Del Rio, Texas;
• Edson Alejandro Perez, 18, of Del Rio;
• Seferino Huerta-Casillas, 35, of Mexico;
• Jonas Ulloa-Aguilera, 25, of Honduras;
• Mayra Alejandra Huerta, 32, of Del Rio;
• Maria Norma Neri de Moran, 56, of Mexico;
• Damian Huerta Analucas, 55, of Mexico;
• Rosario Cristal Lopez-Saldana, 26, of Mexico;
• Eric Hernandez, 40, of Eagle Pass, Texas;
• Franklin Williams Ayala Aguilera, 30, of Honduras; and
• Pascual Raymundo Loarca, 34, of Guatemala

If convicted, each defendant faces maximum penalties of life in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The indictment says that toward the end of April 2026 the organization began moving at least seven migrants from Acuña, Mexico into the Del Rio area. On or about May 9, after illegally crossing them into the Del Rio area, smugglers allegedly transported the group near Union Pacific train tracks and, while a train was stationary, cut the lock on a Conex shipping container and loaded the migrants inside between approximately 1:18 PM and 1:25 PM.

The container was stacked on another and lacked ventilation or cooling, and recorded outside temperatures that day ranged from 88 to 92 degrees Fahrenheit. Seven migrants, including a 14-year-old child, were placed inside a container that was secured from the outside and could not be opened from within, and the train then left Del Rio and traveled east toward San Antonio.

When the train arrived in San Antonio, smugglers opened the Conex and found migrants in distress, then fled the scene, allegedly leaving one deceased near the tracks and leaving the rest inside the container. The train continued its route the next day to Laredo, where a worker at the Union Pacific rail yard saw a leg protruding from a Conex container and found six migrants deceased inside.

San Antonio authorities later discovered the seventh deceased migrant abandoned near the railroad tracks in San Antonio. The seven fatalities included four Mexican nationals and three Honduran nationals, and one of the victims was a 14-year-old child. Investigators say at least one migrant sent a message pleading for help while trapped inside the container.

Mayra Alejandra Huerta was arrested on May 12 in Del Rio and initially charged with harboring illegal aliens; she remains in federal custody and now faces the counts in the indictment. Eight other defendants were arrested during a multi-day Homeland Security Task Force operation across central and south Texas, while two defendants, Karina Garcia and Seferino Huerta-Casillas, remain at large.

The announcement was made by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons for the Western District of Texas. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sarah Spears, Todd Keagle, and Ashley Ellis-Dotson for the Western District of Texas are prosecuting the case.

This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership focused on dismantling criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad.

HSTF includes agents and officers from the FBI; ICE HSI; DEA; ATF; U.S. Border Patrol; USMS; U.S. Postal Inspection Service; Department of Transportation; IRS Criminal Investigation; Texas Department of Public Safety; and various local police departments and sheriff’s offices. Prosecution for this matter is being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas.

An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. The case highlights the deadly human cost of smuggling networks and the role of federal and state law enforcement in investigating and prosecuting those crimes.