Texas truck deaths a horrific repeat of 2003
Human traffickers continue to prey on desperate people dreaming of new life in U.S.
Tyrone M. Williams had barely been on the road for an hour when he heard the banging and cries coming from the trailer of his 18-wheeler.
It was almost midnight on May 13, 2003, and Williams, a dairy trucker, was carrying human cargo. Earlier that night, human traffickers in southeast Texas had loaded dozens of undocumented immigrants into the rear compartment. For a fee of $7,500 (U.S.), Williams had agreed to drive them 193 kilometres north, through a border patrol checkpoint.
The plan went awry when two of the smugglers who were supposed to rendezvous with Williams farther up the highway were detained. Williams was ordered to take his passengers all the way to Houston, an additional 322 kilometres.
Driving through the hot Texas night, Williams never turned on the refrigeration unit in his dairy truck. As the temperature inside the cramped trailer rose to an unbearable 78 C, the people inside grew desperate, kicking holes in the walls, clawing at the insulation and screaming for help.
Hours later, when Williams finally opened the doors on a stretch of highway in Victoria, Texas, 19 people inside were dead of dehydration, overheating and suffocation.
The incident has been called the deadliest ever and most thoroughly documented human trafficking case in the U.S., and it received renewed attention Sunday, after authorities discovered a strikingly similar scene in San Antonio, Texas.
At least 39 people were found packed into a sweltering tractortrailer in a Walmart parking lot, appearing to have been loaded like cargo into the tight container without working air conditioning. Eight men had died inside and two others died later in hospital. Many others were critically overheated, with some believed to have suffered brain damage.
Survivors told investigators that as many as 100 people were crowded in the truck’s trailer at one point, as the Washington Post reported. The driver, James Matthew Bradley Jr., 60, was arrested and charged in federal court Monday.
Authorities said it bore all the hallmarks of the immigrant smuggling operations that are common in that part of the country. Officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have indicated smuggling by truck is on the rise, with several operations uncovered in Texas in recent months.
Investigators have revealed little about the chain of events that led to the deaths in San Antonio, but the 19 immigrant deaths in Victoria in 2003 highlight the perils of travelling by truck to evade border agents, as well as the complex networks that smuggle people into the country.
According to court documents from the case, a man and woman who headed a smuggling operation in southern Texas had been recruiting American truck drivers to carry undocumented immigrants through checkpoints near the border, paying thousands of dollars for short drives. Court papers say they were especially interested in non-Hispanic drivers with out-of-state licences because they were less likely to be scrutinized by authorities.
Williams fit the bill: He was a native of Jamaica who had immigrated legally to the United States and he drove a truck that was licenced in New York. On top of that, he ran his own trucking business and his vehi- cle was refrigerated. He had recently transported dairy products from New York to Texas, so he had legitimate reasons to be in the state.
When authorities arrived at the truck stop where Williams had abandoned his trailer, they found a scene of unspeakable agony and death. The 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals described it in grim detail in a 2010 ruling:
“There were several dead bodies on the ground by the trailer doors. Bodies, both dead and living, were stacked in a pile in the trailer. Some of the aliens were standing behind the pile. The aliens were stripped down to their underwear and were sweating. They had clawed at the foam on the inside of the trailer, and the trailer smelled of vomit, urine, feces and blood.”
Seventeen people riding in Williams’s truck had died inside from dehydration, overheating and suffocation. Two died later at the hospital of the same causes. A 5-year-old boy was among the victims.
Williams was arrested and indicted on dozens of counts, including conspiracy and harbouring. Prosecutors sought the death penalty.
Williams argued he would have opened the doors if he had known the passengers were in serious danger, telling a judge, “I don’t kill people.” Prosecutors alleged he was aware of their suffering all along but did nothing. In 2011, after his case wound through the court system, Williams, then 40, was sentenced to nearly 34 years in prison without parole. Another 13 people were indicted in connection with the deaths. Most received sentences ranging from one year to 23 years in prison.
Thomas Homan, the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was among the agents who personally worked on the 2003 case. In a statement Sunday, he said the 19 immigrants died “as a result of the smugglers’ total indifference to the safety of those smuggled and the law.”
“By any standard,” he said, “the horrific crime uncovered last night ranks as a stark reminder of why human smuggling networks must be pursued, caught and punished.”