A federal court in the United States has sentenced Guatemalan national Rigoberto Ramon Miranda-Orozco to 30 years in prison for his role in a 2022 smuggling operation in which 53 people died inside a tractor-trailer.
Miranda-Orozco, 39, pleaded guilty on 2 July to conspiracy and to aiding the unlawful bringing of people into the country resulting in death or serious bodily injury. The sentence follows his arrest in Guatemala in August 2024 and extradition to the United States in March 2025.
According to the Justice Department’s account of the admitted conduct, 64 people were placed in the trailer for the journey from Laredo to San Antonio, Texas. The compartment had no working air conditioning while outside temperatures reached about 90 degrees Fahrenheit. By the time the vehicle was found, 53 people had died and 11 others were injured.
Miranda-Orozco arranged transport for three of the passengers, the department said. Two died and the third suffered serious injury. The prosecution formed part of a wider investigation into the network responsible for the journey.
The conviction is final at trial-court level following the guilty plea, and the 30-year term is the sentence imposed. The department’s announcement did not identify a pending appeal or a stay. The report distinguishes those adjudicated facts from any allegations still being pursued against other defendants, whose guilt must be determined separately.
Read the Justice Department’s official case announcement.
