The Justice Department announced the charges Monday, following an investigation led by Homeland Security Investigations with federal, state and local partners.

According to court documents, the organization moved migrants by cargo train from April 2023 through May 12, 2026, after they crossed the U.S.-Mexico border, charging migrants or their families between $1,500 and $10,000 per person.

Prosecutors allege that on May 9, 2026, members of the ring took seven migrants to a Union Pacific rail line near Del Rio, Texas. Using red bolt cutters, they cut the lock on a Conex shipping container, forced the victims inside and locked the door from the outside. The container had no ventilation or cooling, while outside temperatures ranged from 88 to 92 degrees Fahrenheit.

The train traveled east along U.S. Highway 90 toward San Antonio. When it arrived, smugglers opened the container, found the victims in distress and fled. One victim's body was abandoned near the tracks in San Antonio, while the other six were left inside the sealed container.

The following day, May 10, a worker at a Union Pacific rail yard in Laredo noticed a leg protruding from the container and alerted authorities. Law enforcement found six bodies inside and located the seventh victim along the tracks in San Antonio.

The dead included four Mexican nationals and three Honduran nationals, among them the 14-year-old. Investigators said at least one victim sent distress messages to a family member pleading for help before dying.

"By allegedly orchestrating this deadly human smuggling scheme, these defendants showed no regard for the value of human life and put people in harm's way to pad their own pockets," said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department's Criminal Division.

U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons for the Western District of Texas said the case fits a pattern of dangerous rail-car interdictions across the region.

"To those who are placing their lives in the hands of dangerous alien smugglers, you must understand that there is no good outcome awaiting on this side of the border," Simmons said. "To those alien smuggling organizations like the one responsible for these seven deaths, your date with American justice will come."

The defendants named in the indictment are Karina Garcia, 37, of Del Rio; Edson Alejandro Perez, 18, of Del Rio; Seferino Huerta-Casillas, 35, a Mexican national; Jonas Ulloa-Aguilera, 25, a Honduran national; Mayra Alejandra Huerta, 32, of Del Rio; Maria Norma Neri de Moran, 56, of Mexico; Damian Huerta Analucas, 55, of Mexico; Rosario Cristal Lopez-Saldana, 26, a Mexican national; Eric Hernandez, 40, of Eagle Pass; Franklin Williams Ayala Aguilera, 30, a Honduran national; Pascual Raymundo Loarca, 34, a Guatemalan national; Juan Alvaro Membreno-Contreras, 40, a Honduran national; Yuri Julissa Cuaresma Paredes, 34, of Honduras; and Mavis Aleyda Escalante Peraza, 38, a Honduran national.

Twelve of the 14 are charged with conspiracy to transport aliens resulting in death and aiding and abetting the transportation of undocumented people resulting in death, offenses that carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. Other charges facing various members include bringing undocumented people into the United States, conspiracy to place lives in jeopardy and money laundering.

The case underscores the lethal risks migrants face when they entrust their lives to smuggling networks, and it raises questions about security along freight rail corridors that stretch from the border through South and Central Texas. Community advocates have long warned that sealed containers offer no escape when temperatures climb, and that enforcement focused only on interdiction does little to address the desperation that drives people to such journeys.

Information in this report comes from the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs.