SAN ANTONIO — One year after the discovery of an overheated tractor-trailer in sweltering South Texas heat devolved into the deadliest human-smuggling event in U.S. history, immigrant families continue to grieve their loss while the San Antonio community reckons with the June 2022 disaster.
Fifty-three migrants hailing from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and elsewhere died of heat-related illness when they were abandoned in southwest San Antonio, inside the semitruck they were traveling in—cramped together with no air conditioning or water. They victims were as young as 13 and as old as 55. Among the 53 were more than a dozen women.
The June 27, 2022 discovery launched a federal investigation as well as a manhunt for the drivers. Four men were eventually arrested in connection with the deaths, and two were indicted. They remain in federal custody without bond.
“The plight of migrants seeking refuge is always a humanitarian crisis. Tonight we’re dealing with a horrific human tragedy," San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said at the time, when the South Texas community was still reeling from an elementary school mass shooting in Uvalde just a few weeks prior.
The incident brought together some of San Antonio's most empathetic community members, some of whom built a makeshift memorial featuring dozens of crosses – one for each victim – and maintained it over the last twelve months, despite multiple targeted efforts to deface or destroy it.
Local leaders are working to make the temporary memorial into a permanent place of remembrance, as well as collaborating with the Smithsonian to potentially create a digital archive telling the story of each migrant who died.
Memorial for 53 migrants on Quintana Road
>MORE COVERAGE OF THE QUINTANA ROAD MIGRANT TRAGEDY:
>TRENDING ON KENS 5 YOUTUBE: