Man pleads responsible in courtroom after crash in Mexico killed over 50 : NPR

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AP LAREDO, Texas — A Guatemalan man pleaded responsible Wednesday in federal courtroom to a felony offense and acknowledged his involvement in an try to illegally smuggle migrants to the U.S. when a jampacked tractor-tailer truck crashed in Mexico in 2021, killing greater than 50 migrants.

Daniel Zavala Ramos, 42, faces a potential sentence of life in jail following his responsible plea in U.S. District Courtroom in Laredo, Texas, to a single cost of conspiring to convey migrants with out paperwork from Guatemala by means of Mexico to the U.S. and inserting lives in jeopardy and inflicting critical damage and deaths, the U.S. Division of Justice stated.

Sentencing is ready for July 7.

Ramos was amongst six Guatemalans charged over the crash of the semitrailer truck and the primary to be convicted. The opposite 5 have a last pretrial convention on June 3, in line with courtroom information. Ramos' legal professional didn't instantly return an e-mail Wednesday night in search of remark.

At the least 160 migrants, many from Guatemala, have been packed into the truck that hit the assist base for a pedestrian bridge on Dec. 9, 2021, and overturned, authorities stated. At the least 53 folks have been killed and greater than 100 have been injured, officers stated, and video footage on the time of the crash confirmed lifeless and injured migrants in a jumbled pile contained in the truck's collapsed freight container.

The Justice Division assertion stated the lifeless included unaccompanied youngsters.

The crash occurred on a freeway main towards the Chiapas state capital, some 160 miles (260 kilometers) from Mexico's border with Guatemala and about 1,400 miles (2,300 kilometers) south of the Mexican border with Texas.

Authorities introduced the arrests of Ramos and the 5 different defendants in Guatemala and Texas in 2024, on the third anniversary of the accident. Ramos was extradited in 2025 from Guatemala to face prices, the DOJ assertion stated.

Prosecutors stated the Guatemalans conspired to smuggle migrants from Guatemala by means of Mexico to the U.S. for fee. In circumstances of unaccompanied youngsters being smuggled, the defendants would offer scripts of what to say in the event that they have been apprehended, authorities stated.

The smugglers would transfer migrants on foot, inside microbuses, cattle vehicles and tractor trailers and use Fb Messenger to request and ship identification paperwork to the migrants to get them into the U.S., in line with authorities.