In Texas, a driver involved in a migrant smuggling operation that resulted in the deaths of 53 individuals has pleaded guilty.

A Texas truck driver who caused the deaths of 53 migrants in a sweltering tractor-trailer with no air conditioning pleaded guilty on Thursday for the 2022 tragedy that was the deadliest smuggling attempt across the U.S.-Mexico border.

In federal court in San Antonio, Homero Zamorano Jr. pleaded guilty to three counts related to transporting aliens, resulting in death, serious bodily injury, and placing lives in jeopardy.

On April 24, Zamorano, who is 48 years old, could receive a maximum sentence of life in prison, as announced by the Justice Department.

Zamorano's lawyer, Mark Stevens, stated in an email that he couldn't provide any comment on an ongoing case.

Officials claim that Zamorano, the driver of the truck, and other suspects involved in the smuggling attempt were aware that the trailer's air conditioning unit was not functioning properly and would not provide cool air to the migrants during the three-hour journey from Laredo to San Antonio.

Investigators said that migrants screamed and banged the walls of the trailer for help or tried to claw their way out as temperatures reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius).

According to Mexican authorities, the truck that was packed with 67 people had 27 fatalities, including 14 from Honduras, seven from Guatemala, and two from El Salvador. Prosecutors have stated that migrants paid up to $15,000 each to be smuggled across the U.S. border.

On June 27, 2022, Zamorano was detained by police on a remote San Antonio back road. According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Zamorano was found hiding in nearby brush and a search of his cellphone revealed calls related to smuggling.

According to the indictment, the surveillance video of the 18-wheeler passing through a Border Patrol checkpoint revealed that the driver resembled Zamorano's description.

Christian Martinez, another person from Texas, was also charged in the tragedy and later pleaded guilty to smuggling-related charges.

In 2023, four Mexican nationals were arrested in the case, and in August, a suspect arrested in Guatemala was charged with helping coordinate the smuggling attempt. U.S. authorities said they would seek the extradition of Rigoberto Román Miranda Orozco, who is charged with six counts of migrant smuggling resulting in death or serious injury. Authorities alleged he is connected to four Guatemalan migrants in the trailer, three of whom died, and faces up to life in prison if convicted.

The indictment against Miranda Orozco alleges that the smugglers made the migrants surrender their cellphones before entering the trailer, leaving them without any means of contacting help. Additionally, an unidentified substance was spread throughout the trailer to conceal the scent of human cargo from detection by border inspection dogs.

In San Antonio, 48 migrants were found dead and 16 were hospitalized when the trailer was opened. Five more died in hospitals. President Biden described the incident as "horrifying and heartbreaking."

The discovery of a trailer filled with deceased individuals who were attempting to improve their lives was met with horror in communities accustomed to seeing their young people depart in search of better opportunities in Central America and Mexico.

It is alleged that the men collaborated with human smuggling operations in Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico, and shared routes, guides, stash houses, trucks, and trailers, some of which were stored at a private parking lot in San Antonio.

Up to $15,000 would be paid by migrants to the organization for each attempt to cross the border, with a maximum of three attempts covered by the fee.

The tragedy of 10 migrants dying in a truck at a Walmart in San Antonio in 2017 and the discovery of 19 bodies in a sweltering truck southeast of San Antonio in 2003 are among the deadliest incidents that have occurred in recent decades as people attempt to cross the U.S. border from Mexico.