Key arrest in Texas migrant tragedy

Many Latin Americans make the hazardous journey to the US each year

The alleged organiser of a smuggling operation that led to the deaths of 19 immigrants in Texas last month has been arrested, US authorities have announced.

The prosecutors released a 58-page indictment against Karla Patricia Chavez Joya and 13 other suspects for their part in what has been described as "the worst immigration smuggling tragedy" in America.

The immigrants - mostly Mexicans but some from Central America - died from suffocation and heat exhaustion as they were transported in a crowded trailer. The dead included a five-year-old boy.

"This senseless loss of life... serves as a grim reminder of the horrific conditions people experience at the hands of smugglers," US Attorney Michael Shelby said.

"These are not people who are trying to make a better life for other people... This is about an American dollar bill and people who will do anything and risk anyone's life in order to gain that dollar bill," Mr Shelby said.

Mexico has long pressed Washington to make it easier for Mexicans to come to the US legally.

Every year thousands of Latin Americans make the hazardous journey and are often at the mercy of smuggling gangs.

'Central cog'

Karla Patricia Chavez Joya, 25, was caught on Friday trying to enter her native Honduras from Guatemala. She was deported to the United States on Saturday.

Mr Shelby described Ms Chavez as the "central cog" in a south Texas smuggling ring, responsible for arranging transportation for immigrants, their housing and feeding.

The prosecutors said each of the immigrants had to pay $1,500 to $1,900 for the trip.

They said nine of the 14 people suspected in the smuggling case had been captured.

They were charged with various counts of conspiracy to conceal or transport immigrants, and some of the accused could face the death penalty.

"People who smuggle human beings have thought that nobody really cares about this. Well, people really do care about this," Mr Shelby said.

Desperation

The grim discovery of the bodies at a rest stop in Texas was one of the worst cases of people smuggling in the border area in recent years.

Survivors spoke of their desperation as they struggled to escape from the back of the tractor-trailer where it is believed about 70 people were crammed.

They said that smugglers loaded them onto the trailer and the air conditioning inside at first worked well.

But when the driver later unhooked his cab and then abandoned the trailer, it soon became airless.

One person inside the sweltering container used a mobile phone to make an emergency call, pleading in Spanish for help as people suffocated. But the call could not be traced.

Police eventually found the trailer at a truck rest stop near the city of Victoria, about 370 kilometres (230 miles) from the Mexican border.