Feb. 20, 2026

A Tragedy In A Semi-Truck

A Tragedy In A Semi-Truck
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On June 27, 2022, at approximately 6pm, Roberto Quintero and his crew were working, when they heard screams and rushed towards the commotion, which took them to Quintana Road in San Antonio, TX. There, they found a girl staggering near a semi-truck. Once they got closer to the semi-truck, they found bodies upon bodies, not moving, with swollen faces and blue lips. Roberto called 9-1-1, exclaiming, “There’s an 18-wheeler with about 20 dead people in the back. There’s more than 20 people, there’s 50 people! All the while the girl could be heard screaming in the background. In total, 53 migrants found in the trailer died that day- 26 Mexicans, 21 Guatemalans, and 6 Hondurans. Who can be blamed for this horrible incident, that’s been described as the deadliest immigration-related disaster? The US for its deadly immigration policies? The smugglers? The meth-fueled driver working for the smugglers? The extremely hot Texan summer?

In this episode, Carmen and Cristina share this case, listen with care, it is a very difficult one. 

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Sources: 
https://www.texasmonthly.com/interactive/san-antonio-53-migrant-deaths/ 
https://sanantonioreport.org/southside-migrant-memorial-to-honor-53-migrants-from-2022-tractor-trailer-tragedy/ 
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/28/migrant-deaths-texas-sentencing

WEBVTT

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Hi, this is Christina and Carman and this is another

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episode of his Spooky Tales, a podcast for all things spooky, hunting, places, myths, legends,

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true crime in Latin America. But today today is a

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very serious episode. You know, once in a while, we

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wouldn't be who we are if we didn't come up

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with like, do you remember when this happened? Because we

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all need to know about this type situation, And that's

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what's happening today. Yeah, And I mean it's a true

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crime story, and true crime is bigger than true crime, right,

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This is a true crime story that is about immigration

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and how the United States increasingly harsh immigration policies put

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lives in danger. Right, That's what it boils down to

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at the end of the day, and as well as

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obviously the people responsible directly responsible. But people wouldn't take

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these dangerous routes into United States if they were forced

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to write. Right, if you are a patron member at

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the lowest tier, you just had an extra twenty six

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minutes of us talking about our I don't know, random things.

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Bad Bunny came up, Bad Bunny again again, again again,

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and I talked about the movie my kids are making,

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and yeah, you get that the lowest tier, which is

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a dollar a month. So okay, and so let's get

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into it, all right. So I want to preface this

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by saying that I don't think I've cried more researching

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and writing notes, but I felt like it was important

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to revisit this tragic day because in doing that, we

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honor the lives that were lost, their sacrifices, and the

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grief that we all share, knowing that this could have

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been us or our loved ones, knowing that many of

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us and our loved ones have made similar journeys. And

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with that being said, this is probably one of our

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heaviest true crime stories, So take care while listening or

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skip if you have to. And also quick shout out

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to Elliott Woods of the Texas Monthly, who took over

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two years to investigate further than this tragic day and

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the initial headlines from that day and put together the

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first full account of it and followed some of the

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survivors and their families, the complexities of the day and

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the aftermath. Everyone should read the article. It was beautifully,

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beautifully written, and it'll be linked in the show notes

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as well as the other sources for today's episode. On

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June twenty seventh, twenty twenty two, at approximately six pm,

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Roberto Quintero and his crew were working when they heard

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screams and rushed towards the commotion, which took them to

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Quintana Road in South San Antonio, Texas. There they found

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a girl staggering near a semi truck. Once it got

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to the semi truck, they found bodies upon bodies, not moving,

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with swollen faces and blue lips. What about the call

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nine one one exclaiming there was an eighteen wheeler with

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about twenty dead people in the back. There's more than

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twenty people. There's fifty people, all the while the girl

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could be her screaming in the background. In total, fifty

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three migrants found in the trailer died that day, twenty

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six Mexicans, twenty one Guatemalans, and six Endurance. And this

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left us, many of us, with questions. Who can be

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blamed for this horrible incident that's been described as the

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deadliest immigration related disaster. The US for its deadly immigration policies,

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the smugglers, the med fuel driver working for the smugglers,

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the extremely hot Texan summer. I don't know. So that

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morning again On June twenty seven, twenty twenty two, about

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twenty four migrants from Mexico, Guatemala and on with us,

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including brothers Bergayi and Mariano Santiago e Bolito from southern Mexico,

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as well as a few children and women, had been

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taken by smugglers to a stash house and had been

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there for over two days. Twenty four people in a

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cramped and single room with zero furniture and almost no

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room for anyone to lie down. There was nowhere to

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bathe or shower, and the one toilet that was there

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was hello grimy. They had run out of the little

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food and bottled water that was given to them by

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the smugglers, and everyone was wondering why they were still there,

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But the smugglers were worried that a local would spot

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them at informed authorities, so they forbathed the migrants from

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leaving the stash house for any reason, because they had

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just lost two stash houses earlier that month. Finally, a

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big white box truck showed up to the stash house

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to pick the migrants up, but this was hardly an

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improvement in treatment for the migrants. The men who showed

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up to pick them up, wore masks and screened orders

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at them. They took their phone and a few water

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bottles the migrants had been able to refill from the sink.

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The cargo area was already packed with migrants who had

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been staying at other stash houses, and the truck drove

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for about ten minutes, taking the migrants to the semi truck,

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which would then take them across the border. Just like

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in the white truck, there were already groups of people

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in the trailer of the semi truck. In total, there

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were more than sixty people in the trailer. The brothers

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Begaye and Mariano settled by a wall around the middle

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of the trailer, and next to them were three women

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from a small town in Guatemala, one who was hoping

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to join her sister in Minnesota. The youngest and the

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trailer were a pair of cousins, also from Guatemala, who

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were thirteen and fourteen so young, who were also hoping

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to join their relatives. The older cousin was a huge

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fan of Messi and dreamed of being a professional soccer

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player one day, but his goal was to earn money

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to help his mom care for his younger siblings back home.

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The oldest in the trailer was a fifty five year

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old construction worker who had been living in Arkansas for

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over twenty years, but had gone back to Mexico to

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visit family and was now on his way back to

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his wife, three kids and four grandkids. Wow, and you

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know what, I died in twenty twenty two. Less people

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were coming and going like that because when we were kids,

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it was so normal for so many of our uncles

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to come and go. I mean our grandparents did it too. Yeah,

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and I feel like twenty twenty two was even more

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difficult to do this. Yeah. And I didn't find the

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reasons why he went, but could have been anything. Maybe

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his mom died. A lot of people go back for

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finder rolls or sick relatives, who knows, but he had

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been living here for twenty years before that, twenty years.

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Towards the back doors of the trailer was a pair

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of siblings in their twenties, also from Guatemala. The brother

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and sister had been caring for eighteen girl who they

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had met along their journey to the border, and she

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sat between them because they were comforting her. And this

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was a common experience right older migrants usually care for

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younger ones who are traveling alone. Reminds me of sol Yeah.

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Even the stash house part remind me of Soliton because

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he describes similar circumstances. I mean, didn't our mom stay

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in a slash house? I think she did. Yeah. Also

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in the trailer were a pair of cousins from Mexico

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who were caring for an eighteen year old boy from

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Mexico City whose mom had asked them to watch out

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for him. Among the group was also a twenty seven

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year old woman from Ondouras who was around twelve weeks pregnant.

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That morning, she had been able to call her mom,

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who was living in La and she had told her

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she would see her soon. The group spread out as

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much as they could, but they were pretty cramped in

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there and became unbearable quickly. It was almost one hundred

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degrees outside, making the air inside the trailer too hot.

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Almost as soon as the doors were closed and the

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latches from the outside were closed as well. Just before

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two pm, the semi truck set off and the plan

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was to arrive in San Antonio in a little over

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three hours, where the migrants would then go their separate

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ways to their final destinations, many with jobs already lined

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up and family to reunite with. Unfortunately, things did not

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go as planned. The smugglers associated with this incident, or

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Felippe or Luna Torres and Jose Martinez or Vera, and

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Felippe was the one who maintained contact with the cartel.

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And I guess I'll explain really quick for anyone who

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doesn't know the current situation in the border for migrants.

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So cartel's control regies in Mexico obviously, right, and in

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Novo Lao, where brothers Begay and Mariano as well as

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other migrants found themselves that day to cross into the

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United States though, so they were crossing from Novolo into

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into Texas, and so they're the is in control. And

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there are different, right, different cartels, different in different areas. Yeah,

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the cartels themselves are not usually involved in the logistics

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of smuggling and moving people. That's done by smaller organizations

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who function more like independent contractors. While the cartels in

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this case, the they extort money from every migrant trying

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to cross the border. And I feel like this that

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has gotten worse as time has gone on, because this

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wasn't a thing and saying, and the article gets into that.

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We I in my note, I don't really get into it,

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but I figured we would talk about it. But yeah,

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this whole process, this whole method of migrating, has only

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gone worse as deterrent methods have been used by border patrol,

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pushing migrants more and more out like into dangerous situations,

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and as militarization of the border has gone worse and

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the war on drugt has gone worse. Things got worse

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hat through NAFTA. All of these conditions helped put cartels

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in control, which worsened the danger that my vents are

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facing over the years. Right exactly, so, the cartels know

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everyone trying to cross, and they require the use of

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code words to know that migrants are using their approved smugglers,

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and anyone who's not using an approved smuggler is basically

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usually kidnapped by cartels or faces other dangers. Right. And

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the smugglers also use the code words to help them

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keep track of their clients. Felippe and Jose use the

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code word zero five zero flacco and this was the

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code that the brothers Gayi and Mariano were using. Okay,

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so that was just a little like brief explanation m HM.

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Felippe and Jose were both undocumented Mexicans and had been

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working as smugglers for years separately until they joined forces

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around twenty nineteen to capitalize on attacking tactic known as

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a book smuggling, which is to move a large amount

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of people in commercial vehicles like semi trucks, which is

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you know what happened here, And that meant that a

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smuggling became bigger and more popular after NAFTA, because commercial

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trucking between the US and Mexico became a bigger thing

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after n af After okay, smugglers like Felippe and Jose

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would forge documents describing the contents of the trailers, and

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they would use things like detergents coffee meat sizzings to

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hide the scent of hidden passengers from scent detecting dogs,

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which is hard to trick those dogs their way. Since

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twenty twenty one, six of Felipe and Hoss operations had

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been busted by dogs. But even with being busted six times,

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Felippe and Jose had successfully moved thousands of people through

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the border checkpoints since working together, but not in the

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hands on kind of way because they outsourced most of

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the work. Wow. Yeah, there's a whole operation. Yeah, and

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of course there is. I just didn't like realize it,

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you know. Yeah. The man who Felippe and Jose used

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to maintain their fleet of semi trucks and trailers was

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another undocumented Mexican man named Juan de Luna Bilbao, who

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was working as a car mechanic and got into business

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with them unintentionally after one of his friends got him

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like a side gig working on Hosse's personal car. Then

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he kind of just fell into it with them. Right

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When Felippe and Jose had a smuggling operation going on,

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they would have Huan move the semi truck that they

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were going to use that day from the storage lot

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to the ending point of the operation and then back.

210
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He would move it back to the storage law afterwards,

211
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and he would get paid five hundred dollars for every

212
00:13:17.639 --> 00:13:22.600
successful operation. I feel like that's not enough. No, but

213
00:13:22.679 --> 00:13:25.279
all he was doing was fixing the trucks and moving

214
00:13:25.320 --> 00:13:30.480
the ic. Yeah. Okay, So on June twenty seventh, around

215
00:13:30.600 --> 00:13:33.519
five am, Jose called Huan and asked him to take

216
00:13:33.559 --> 00:13:36.440
a red tractor hooked to a fifty three foot white

217
00:13:36.440 --> 00:13:39.840
trailer to one of their usual truck stops and informed

218
00:13:39.879 --> 00:13:43.240
him that their driver was already on his way. So

219
00:13:43.360 --> 00:13:45.960
Juan did, and when he got there, he performed the

220
00:13:46.080 --> 00:13:50.000
usual maintenance checks and he sprinkled meat seasoning and the trailer.

221
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Then took pictures of the ID numbers of the truck

222
00:13:53.440 --> 00:13:57.360
and trailer so Pelippe and Jose could forge the necessary

223
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paperwork to get through the checkpoint. Noted that the refrigeration

224
00:14:02.240 --> 00:14:05.960
unit in the trailer was malfunctioning, and he had actually

225
00:14:06.159 --> 00:14:09.000
been sharing this concern with Whole several months, saying he

226
00:14:09.039 --> 00:14:12.120
didn't know how to fix the issue, And three days

227
00:14:12.159 --> 00:14:15.759
before the operation, Juan had Texan Josset a video of

228
00:14:15.799 --> 00:14:18.919
the unit showing him that it wasn't working, and Hose

229
00:14:19.080 --> 00:14:20.840
said he would get someone to look at it, but

230
00:14:20.919 --> 00:14:25.720
never did. Juan's main concerns, though, were one that the

231
00:14:25.840 --> 00:14:29.039
temperature would raise red flags at the border checkpoint because

232
00:14:29.080 --> 00:14:33.159
of paperwork specified a certain temperature setting for whatever they

233
00:14:33.159 --> 00:14:38.000
were supposedly hauling, right yeah, And the other concern was

234
00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:42.759
that the temperature was higher and wouldn't cool down and

235
00:14:42.799 --> 00:14:47.759
then worse the other concern without without a working refrigeration unit,

236
00:14:48.039 --> 00:14:51.879
the Texas Heat June Texas heat would be dangerous for

237
00:14:51.919 --> 00:14:55.519
the passengers, But Kuan had been told to not question orders,

238
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so ultimately he did what he was told. He delivered

239
00:14:57.960 --> 00:15:02.600
the trailer, filled it with diesel, and walked away. Shortly

240
00:15:02.639 --> 00:15:07.759
after Juan walked away, Christian Martinez and Omero Samorano arrived

241
00:15:07.759 --> 00:15:10.399
at the truck stop. Christian had been working for Rose

242
00:15:11.080 --> 00:15:14.039
and Felippe for only a few months, and his tasks

243
00:15:14.919 --> 00:15:19.360
included finding and hiring commercially licensed truck drivers who were

244
00:15:19.559 --> 00:15:23.039
US citizens or permanent residents, since they had to be

245
00:15:23.039 --> 00:15:25.279
able to get through the border checkpoints right and who

246
00:15:25.279 --> 00:15:29.360
were also willing to risk getting arrested, and to bring

247
00:15:29.399 --> 00:15:31.480
the person who'd be driving the semi truck to the

248
00:15:31.519 --> 00:15:34.519
truck stop. Then he would be the middleman communicating with

249
00:15:34.600 --> 00:15:37.879
the driver and the bosses Jsse and Philippe during the operation.

250
00:15:39.039 --> 00:15:41.919
Ometo was a driver who would be transporting the migrants.

251
00:15:43.159 --> 00:15:45.200
Christian had never made the kind of money he was

252
00:15:45.200 --> 00:15:47.679
making now that he was working for Josse and Phelippe.

253
00:15:48.320 --> 00:15:51.440
After a driver successfully made it to San Antonio, with

254
00:15:51.480 --> 00:15:55.000
a load of migrants. Kistan would be paid five thousand

255
00:15:55.320 --> 00:15:57.759
dollars and in less than four months he had already

256
00:15:57.759 --> 00:16:01.360
made thirty five thousand. Wow. So he had made this

257
00:16:01.600 --> 00:16:06.720
trip several times. And well, he wasn't the driver. He

258
00:16:06.720 --> 00:16:09.799
he contracted the drivers and then he would take now

259
00:16:09.960 --> 00:16:12.799
the drivers to the spot where the semi truck to

260
00:16:12.840 --> 00:16:15.879
the truck stop. Basically he made at least thirty five

261
00:16:15.919 --> 00:16:19.120
thousand doing this. Yeah. And then he was the MetalMan,

262
00:16:19.279 --> 00:16:22.840
maintaining communication between the driver and then the ring leaders.

263
00:16:22.879 --> 00:16:26.200
I guess he could say Jossein Peilippe. So yeah, and

264
00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:28.519
he had made thirty five thousand dollars in the four

265
00:16:28.559 --> 00:16:32.840
months he'd been working for them. Wow. Before that, Christian

266
00:16:33.200 --> 00:16:36.960
had been homeless, living in his car. He had difficulties

267
00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:41.120
finding and maintaining employment because he had severe cognitive disabilities

268
00:16:41.159 --> 00:16:43.440
and never learned to read. And I guess read like

269
00:16:43.480 --> 00:16:45.720
on a level like he could text and communicate, but

270
00:16:45.919 --> 00:16:51.639
read a level of literacy. I guess yeah. Earlier that morning,

271
00:16:51.720 --> 00:16:54.559
when Christian arrived to pick Ometo up, he found O

272
00:16:54.600 --> 00:16:58.480
Metal smoking meth with his girlfriend. But this was normal,

273
00:16:58.639 --> 00:17:01.120
nothing out of the ordinary. Both of them often used

274
00:17:01.159 --> 00:17:04.759
stimulants like met and cocaine to stay awake during overnight halls.

275
00:17:05.440 --> 00:17:08.880
By eleven am, Ometal arrived at the north end of

276
00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:13.680
Laredo to await further instructions. This was routine because drivers

277
00:17:13.720 --> 00:17:16.319
weren't sent directly to the stash houses in order to

278
00:17:16.759 --> 00:17:21.720
avoid drawing attention. A bit before one pm, Ometal received

279
00:17:21.759 --> 00:17:25.279
a Google Maps pin from Christian where the white box

280
00:17:25.319 --> 00:17:29.039
truck was located. Earlier I mentioned the migrants were loaded

281
00:17:29.039 --> 00:17:32.440
onto this white box truck. Yeah, and then from there

282
00:17:32.480 --> 00:17:35.799
on he would be taken into San Antonio. About an

283
00:17:35.799 --> 00:17:40.279
hour later, Ometal arrived to the border checkpoint and got

284
00:17:40.319 --> 00:17:43.799
through with no issues since the border patrol agent didn't

285
00:17:43.799 --> 00:17:48.720
even check his paperwork. By this point, the airror inside

286
00:17:48.759 --> 00:17:52.799
the trailer was unbearable, but the migrants had been warned

287
00:17:52.839 --> 00:17:56.039
to not make any noises so as to not alert

288
00:17:56.119 --> 00:18:00.680
the border patrol of the presence. Ometal kept heading north

289
00:18:00.920 --> 00:18:04.640
to San Antonio, and by this time the heat inside

290
00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:09.240
the trailer had only gotten worse and had likely reached

291
00:18:09.279 --> 00:18:13.160
temperatures higher than one hundred and forty degrees. Oh my god.

292
00:18:13.519 --> 00:18:16.640
The sixty four migrants in the trailer could no longer

293
00:18:16.680 --> 00:18:20.880
handle it. Mariano and beg Aye were trying their best

294
00:18:20.960 --> 00:18:25.200
to maintain their composure as they heard everyone screaming around them.

295
00:18:26.119 --> 00:18:30.519
In addition to the unbearable heat, everyone's eyes were burning

296
00:18:30.559 --> 00:18:33.240
and their bodies were itchy because of the meat seasoning

297
00:18:33.279 --> 00:18:37.920
that quant had sprinkled everywhere. Everyone had grown desperate and

298
00:18:37.960 --> 00:18:42.200
they started scrambling and tripping over each other looking for

299
00:18:42.319 --> 00:18:45.240
any kind of opening to let air in. But all

300
00:18:45.319 --> 00:18:48.839
the screaming and movement only made things worse because it

301
00:18:48.960 --> 00:18:54.599
generated more heat and depleted the already low oxygen. There

302
00:18:54.720 --> 00:18:56.799
was so much sweat on the floor of the trailer

303
00:18:56.920 --> 00:19:02.079
that when Mariano tried to stand, he started sliding, And

304
00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:04.440
even then, Mariano managed to make his way to the

305
00:19:04.440 --> 00:19:07.359
front of the trailer, where he tried to get Ometo's

306
00:19:07.359 --> 00:19:11.920
attention by slamming the wall with his fists to Novel,

307
00:19:13.119 --> 00:19:16.240
and he also managed his way back to his brother

308
00:19:16.279 --> 00:19:20.319
Begay through the crowd. Is it like, I mean, I've

309
00:19:20.359 --> 00:19:22.440
never been in a truck like this, so like could

310
00:19:22.440 --> 00:19:24.200
he really not hear them or was he just like

311
00:19:24.279 --> 00:19:27.480
told to ignore them? No, he heard them, He heard them,

312
00:19:27.559 --> 00:19:32.519
Yeah he did. Yeah. So later during the criminal proceedings,

313
00:19:32.519 --> 00:19:35.039
it was discovered that Ometo had heard the noises from

314
00:19:35.039 --> 00:19:39.480
the trailer. Oh my god. Around three twenty pm, Ometo

315
00:19:39.559 --> 00:19:42.759
had called Christian letting him know that he stopped to

316
00:19:42.759 --> 00:19:45.880
buy a charger for his phone, and then he stopped

317
00:19:45.880 --> 00:19:48.640
two more times because he heard the screaming and the

318
00:19:48.680 --> 00:19:52.680
banging on the trailer walls. It was likely he knew

319
00:19:52.960 --> 00:19:56.160
something was wrong because he had tried to reset the

320
00:19:56.200 --> 00:19:59.400
refrigeration unit. He tried to fix the issue like when

321
00:19:59.400 --> 00:20:04.279
he stopped, but he accidentally made things worse and the

322
00:20:04.359 --> 00:20:08.559
unit started blowing hot air. Oh my god, and the

323
00:20:08.599 --> 00:20:12.720
migrants felt a sudden rush of heat, and he heard them.

324
00:20:12.960 --> 00:20:16.480
He heard the migrants screaming, and he shouted, we're almost

325
00:20:16.480 --> 00:20:23.039
there at them. Around five point thirty pm, Ometo connected

326
00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:27.480
with a pickup that was part of the operation and

327
00:20:28.680 --> 00:20:30.920
was to take him to the drop off spot on

328
00:20:31.000 --> 00:20:35.359
Quintana Road in San Antonio, and Ometo was worried now,

329
00:20:35.519 --> 00:20:40.519
so he called Christian again, saying they're screaming and banging

330
00:20:40.599 --> 00:20:45.519
real bad, and he asked Kistan what to do. So Kristian,

331
00:20:45.559 --> 00:20:48.960
as a middleman, then asked the bosses Felippe and Josse

332
00:20:49.400 --> 00:20:53.720
what to do. And they replied saying what's done is done.

333
00:20:53.799 --> 00:20:59.480
Don't stop again. Meanwhile, inside the trailer, the migrants were

334
00:20:59.559 --> 00:21:02.880
growing desperate, to the point that some had clawed at

335
00:21:02.880 --> 00:21:06.680
the walls and ripped off chunks of the insulation in

336
00:21:06.720 --> 00:21:10.279
an attempt to get fresh air, which of course didn't

337
00:21:10.279 --> 00:21:14.920
work right. Others had formed the prayer circle in the

338
00:21:14.960 --> 00:21:17.400
middle of the trailer. This is a part where I

339
00:21:17.400 --> 00:21:20.079
started crying when I was writing the notes. My mind

340
00:21:20.079 --> 00:21:23.480
you had already been crying. Yeah, okay, because the article

341
00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:29.960
goes in depth about Begayi's and Mariano's not their journey

342
00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:32.160
into the US, but their like lives before they came

343
00:21:32.200 --> 00:21:36.039
and why they decided to come to the US. So yeah, yeah,

344
00:21:36.079 --> 00:21:42.640
it's a lot. And another migrant who managed to not

345
00:21:42.720 --> 00:21:47.519
have their phone confiscated by the smugglers, called someone in desperation,

346
00:21:47.720 --> 00:21:51.880
pleading them to save them. Another man was begging for

347
00:21:52.000 --> 00:21:55.839
water for his dying wife, and the pair of siblings

348
00:21:55.839 --> 00:21:58.599
who were caring for the teen girl for fanning her

349
00:21:58.720 --> 00:22:02.599
with their pocket bibles. Another woman who managed to hold

350
00:22:02.599 --> 00:22:05.279
onto her bottle of water, shared her last drops of

351
00:22:05.279 --> 00:22:09.119
water with the siblings on La Tingirl, and soon the

352
00:22:09.160 --> 00:22:14.759
migrants began dying. They were suffering from extreme dehydration, to

353
00:22:14.799 --> 00:22:17.799
the point that they stopped sweating and their skin turned

354
00:22:17.839 --> 00:22:23.799
hot to the touch. They were losing electrolytes fast, which

355
00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:29.319
causes symptoms like muscle cramps, brain swelling, nausea, loss of coordination, delibrium,

356
00:22:29.400 --> 00:22:34.119
and seizures. Their bodies reached temperatures higher than one hundred

357
00:22:34.119 --> 00:22:39.519
and five degrees and their organs started to fill agonizing.

358
00:22:39.839 --> 00:22:45.279
It was agonizing, Oh my God, this is horrible. Mariano

359
00:22:45.359 --> 00:22:48.079
and beg Ie held hands through it all. Beg Ae

360
00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:50.880
told Mariano that he couldn't take the pain in his chest,

361
00:22:51.359 --> 00:22:54.720
and he felt like he was being submerged underwater, each

362
00:22:54.799 --> 00:23:00.400
breath becoming more and more laborious. He told Mariano, they're

363
00:23:00.759 --> 00:23:04.599
murdering us in here, as his mouth and limbs twisted

364
00:23:04.599 --> 00:23:09.119
of their own accord in a spasmic way. Madama tried

365
00:23:09.119 --> 00:23:12.640
to comfort big Ae, telling him to stay strong. Big

366
00:23:12.680 --> 00:23:16.920
II's last memory of those excruciating moments were his brother's words, praying,

367
00:23:17.759 --> 00:23:20.839
my God, look after my heart, look after my soul,

368
00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:27.559
as in his brother being his like his heart and soul.

369
00:23:28.720 --> 00:23:30.480
I don't know if he was like about himself. Or

370
00:23:30.480 --> 00:23:33.240
his brother, but those were his what he remembers last hearing,

371
00:23:33.400 --> 00:23:38.680
Oh my god. Ometo finally arrived at the meeting spot

372
00:23:38.720 --> 00:23:41.279
where the drivers, who were also part of the smuggling

373
00:23:41.319 --> 00:23:44.200
operation were to pick up their set of migrants and

374
00:23:44.279 --> 00:23:47.920
take them to their separate destinations. He watched as the

375
00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:51.480
drivers opened the doors, but instead of the usual routine

376
00:23:51.480 --> 00:23:55.079
of shouting their respective codes and collecting their clients, he

377
00:23:55.119 --> 00:23:57.920
saw the drivers run back to their cars and speed away.

378
00:23:58.839 --> 00:24:02.640
Ometo was panicking, so he called Gistian, who told him

379
00:24:02.680 --> 00:24:05.200
to go look in the trailer. So he did with

380
00:24:05.319 --> 00:24:08.400
Gristian still on the line, and he told him there

381
00:24:08.440 --> 00:24:12.480
his body stacked up. Before ending the call, Guistian was

382
00:24:12.519 --> 00:24:16.319
now shaking himself, so he called Josese lieutenants, who told

383
00:24:16.359 --> 00:24:20.559
him to go pick Omeo up. Guistian arrived only minutes after,

384
00:24:20.759 --> 00:24:23.160
and he saw a teen girl sobbing near the truck,

385
00:24:23.519 --> 00:24:25.960
soaking with sweat, and a group of strangers trying to

386
00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:30.119
help her. These men were Roberto Quintero and his work crew,

387
00:24:30.200 --> 00:24:32.799
who Carmen mentioned at the top of the episode, who

388
00:24:32.880 --> 00:24:35.160
heard the screams while they were working and ran over

389
00:24:35.200 --> 00:24:38.400
to help. Once Ghistian saw that Ometo was not there,

390
00:24:38.480 --> 00:24:42.359
he fled the scene. Omedo had fled before Christian got there,

391
00:24:42.480 --> 00:24:47.400
and had also stopped replying to texts and calls from Christian. Luckily,

392
00:24:47.559 --> 00:24:50.240
Roberto and his crew saw Ometo and were able to

393
00:24:50.319 --> 00:24:53.799
describe him to law enforcement. They ran after him too,

394
00:24:53.920 --> 00:24:57.839
but he got away from them. Law enforcement and purchasponders

395
00:24:57.880 --> 00:25:01.480
arrived quickly within minutes. They they began to pull the migrants,

396
00:25:01.599 --> 00:25:04.200
arranging them signed by side on the dirt side of

397
00:25:04.200 --> 00:25:08.240
the road and pulling out survivors as they found them.

398
00:25:08.519 --> 00:25:16.119
The survivors totaled sixteen, and those who died total forty eight,

399
00:25:17.200 --> 00:25:20.640
including two migrants who had been found several hundred feet

400
00:25:20.640 --> 00:25:24.839
away from the semi truck. So the first first responders

401
00:25:24.839 --> 00:25:27.480
thought there might be others who kind of got further

402
00:25:27.519 --> 00:25:29.559
away from the truck, so they searched the sides of

403
00:25:29.599 --> 00:25:32.720
the road, and they found an unconscious man with the

404
00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:35.079
phone line next to him. At first they thought he

405
00:25:35.160 --> 00:25:37.799
was one of the victims, but this turned out to

406
00:25:37.799 --> 00:25:41.839
be a Metro Oh. They unlocked his phone and saw

407
00:25:42.119 --> 00:25:46.039
texts later determined to be from Christian asking where he

408
00:25:46.160 --> 00:25:49.880
was at, and he was quickly detained and put under

409
00:25:49.880 --> 00:25:52.400
a police supervision at the hospital where he was receiving

410
00:25:52.400 --> 00:25:57.160
treatment for amphetamine intoxication an dehydration. Oh okay, I was

411
00:25:57.200 --> 00:26:00.799
wondering why he was passed out. I see now. It

412
00:26:00.880 --> 00:26:04.200
didn't take police too long to find the others involved.

413
00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:07.759
Kuan was at the storage lot waiting to retrieve the

414
00:26:07.799 --> 00:26:12.000
semi truck when police arrested him and Kisian was arrested

415
00:26:12.119 --> 00:26:15.119
a couple of days later. Once he saw the news

416
00:26:15.119 --> 00:26:17.359
that Metal had been arrested, he knew he didn't have

417
00:26:17.480 --> 00:26:20.079
much time left, so he went back to his hometown,

418
00:26:20.200 --> 00:26:22.640
which is Palestine, Texas. Did you know there was a

419
00:26:22.680 --> 00:26:25.519
Palestine in Texas? I did. I didn't know that. And

420
00:26:25.559 --> 00:26:28.759
there's another one to tell us. Are you serious? Wow?

421
00:26:28.920 --> 00:26:31.519
But yeah, So he went back to his hometown, Palestine

422
00:26:31.880 --> 00:26:34.640
to visit his mom and sister and finish the rest

423
00:26:34.640 --> 00:26:37.319
of his cocaine, where he waited for the cops. Oh

424
00:26:37.359 --> 00:26:43.519
my god, priorities. Yeah, it took law enforcement a year

425
00:26:43.759 --> 00:26:48.440
to find an arrest. Felippe ba Jose evaded arrest. It's

426
00:26:48.559 --> 00:26:51.880
likely he fled to Mexico and he's still at least

427
00:26:51.920 --> 00:26:54.720
as of December twenty five. When I read the Texas

428
00:26:54.759 --> 00:26:58.839
Monthly article, he was still at large. Oh wow. Philippe's

429
00:26:58.960 --> 00:27:01.559
father in law was also found to be involved in

430
00:27:01.559 --> 00:27:05.680
the operation and was also arrested. In total, seven people

431
00:27:05.720 --> 00:27:10.640
were arrested. Okay, and I cried a lot during these notes.

432
00:27:11.039 --> 00:27:13.640
But there's a line from the article where Elliot Woods

433
00:27:13.720 --> 00:27:18.799
is writing about the Corner's office being overwhelmed with this

434
00:27:19.000 --> 00:27:22.799
disaster that was out of their scope, about when the

435
00:27:22.880 --> 00:27:26.279
authorities and first responders and whatnot were processing the scene,

436
00:27:26.359 --> 00:27:30.599
and he wrote, quote, once again, the migrants were loaded

437
00:27:30.640 --> 00:27:33.960
like cargo into the backs of large vehicles and hauled

438
00:27:33.960 --> 00:27:37.039
the way, this time to the morgue. Oh my god,

439
00:27:37.559 --> 00:27:41.160
head man the way. I cried, No, for sure, just

440
00:27:41.319 --> 00:27:47.000
reading that now, it's so impactful because they had been

441
00:27:47.039 --> 00:27:52.759
loaded up like this before. Yeah. And it took help

442
00:27:52.839 --> 00:27:56.599
from Dallas and Austin and five days for the Corner's

443
00:27:56.599 --> 00:28:00.519
office to complete the autopsies. The main cause of death

444
00:28:00.680 --> 00:28:07.720
was determined to be hyperthermia overheating, but the medical examiner

445
00:28:07.839 --> 00:28:12.319
determined that many of the migrants suffered from asphyxiation, from

446
00:28:12.319 --> 00:28:16.920
being smothered crushed by the weight of other bodies, or

447
00:28:16.960 --> 00:28:20.240
from being unable to survive on the oxygen depleted air.

448
00:28:21.200 --> 00:28:24.279
While the Corners Office determined hyperthermia to be the cause

449
00:28:24.319 --> 00:28:27.200
of death, they found homicide to be the manner of

450
00:28:27.240 --> 00:28:31.720
death to charge the seven. Yeah, and I mean this

451
00:28:31.759 --> 00:28:37.039
is what killed them. Yeah. While processing the scene gathering evidence,

452
00:28:37.559 --> 00:28:43.079
the authorities collected and took pictures of the diseased belongings.

453
00:28:43.359 --> 00:28:46.440
Most had nothing more than loose change in their pockets.

454
00:28:47.200 --> 00:28:51.319
Many traveled with fake Mexican documents. Others had prayer cards

455
00:28:51.319 --> 00:28:56.599
in their pockets. The pregnant hundred women had two pregnancy

456
00:28:56.640 --> 00:28:59.279
tests in her pocket when she died. Oh my god,

457
00:28:59.640 --> 00:29:04.680
they have There are smugglers codes, including one man who

458
00:29:04.720 --> 00:29:08.279
had the code zero five zero Placo, who was later

459
00:29:08.359 --> 00:29:14.359
determined to be Mariano. Meanwhile, Begaye was unconscious at the hospital.

460
00:29:14.799 --> 00:29:22.640
Begay survived. Yeah. Yeah. Begay's wife, Maddie and his brother

461
00:29:22.839 --> 00:29:24.960
saw another brother of theirs who was living in Aguadas.

462
00:29:25.799 --> 00:29:29.240
Both of them were granted special visas to visit Beggaye,

463
00:29:29.559 --> 00:29:32.319
and both took about a week to get to into

464
00:29:32.319 --> 00:29:36.200
the United States. Wow. I'm glad they were able to

465
00:29:37.200 --> 00:29:41.079
because had this been another administration st right now, I'm

466
00:29:41.079 --> 00:29:45.759
sure that this would have been denied. Yeah. They learned

467
00:29:45.799 --> 00:29:50.519
at the hospital that Begay's organs were shriveled like dried fruit,

468
00:29:51.480 --> 00:29:55.000
and I had suffered two strokes when he had arrived

469
00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:59.400
at the hospital. Oh my god. But eventually, after spending

470
00:29:59.440 --> 00:30:02.920
three days in a coma, he woke up. When he

471
00:30:03.000 --> 00:30:07.200
woke up, he had no memory of leaving Mexico. Wait,

472
00:30:07.359 --> 00:30:13.960
did I think his brother was still alive? Yeah, yeah,

473
00:30:14.039 --> 00:30:21.400
I'm telling you. I was crying. It's just heavy right now.

474
00:30:23.319 --> 00:30:26.440
His first words to his wife Maddie were forgive me.

475
00:30:26.680 --> 00:30:29.880
I didn't listen to you. And this was because when

476
00:30:29.880 --> 00:30:33.480
Begaye had left Mexico to come to United States, he

477
00:30:33.559 --> 00:30:36.720
only came to the US because Mariano had asked him

478
00:30:36.759 --> 00:30:41.359
to join him. Oh my god, because Mariano wanted to

479
00:30:41.400 --> 00:30:45.279
make more money because his wife, Luce Estrella was having

480
00:30:45.400 --> 00:30:49.519
like several medical issues and she needed to undergo a

481
00:30:49.559 --> 00:30:52.640
few diagnostic tests for a lot of the issues she

482
00:30:52.759 --> 00:30:54.720
was having and they didn't have the money for it,

483
00:30:55.440 --> 00:30:57.799
so he wanted to come to United States for that,

484
00:30:58.000 --> 00:31:02.279
and Begaye was actually doing okay and he didn't need

485
00:31:02.319 --> 00:31:06.880
to come. Yeah, just what help was brother? Yeah? Yeah?

486
00:31:06.920 --> 00:31:10.960
And Ma Diana had told him, well, I'm going either way,

487
00:31:11.160 --> 00:31:13.759
you if even if you don't come with me or

488
00:31:13.799 --> 00:31:18.599
without him. Yeah, And so Maddie had been telling don't go,

489
00:31:18.720 --> 00:31:20.799
don't go. We're doing well. Just you know, you're just

490
00:31:20.839 --> 00:31:23.440
stressing yourself out. You're just going to make things worse

491
00:31:23.440 --> 00:31:24.880
for everybody, not for you, but you know what I mean,

492
00:31:24.920 --> 00:31:27.759
like telling him you need to work fine, but Begay

493
00:31:28.079 --> 00:31:30.759
was like, I can't. I can't let him go to

494
00:31:30.759 --> 00:31:33.000
my brother alone. I have to. Yeah, I have to

495
00:31:33.039 --> 00:31:39.000
go with him. And Begae didn't remember that Mariano had

496
00:31:39.079 --> 00:31:42.480
gone into the trailer, and he would constantly ask if,

497
00:31:42.680 --> 00:31:45.799
oh my god, Mariana was okay, and if he had

498
00:31:45.839 --> 00:31:49.319
gone back to Mexico. It took her days to tell

499
00:31:49.400 --> 00:31:51.039
him the truth, because I mean, how do you tell

500
00:31:51.039 --> 00:31:56.880
someone that. No, of course, and when she finally told him,

501
00:31:57.200 --> 00:32:01.559
he cried quote with so much at that Maddie thought

502
00:32:01.599 --> 00:32:09.640
something within him was shadowing Oh my god. Yeah, it's terrible.

503
00:32:10.279 --> 00:32:11.880
Even when you know the part where I said they

504
00:32:11.920 --> 00:32:16.079
were holding hands, I was like, no, of course he

505
00:32:16.240 --> 00:32:26.559
was done. Eventually, Begai's condition improved and he was discharged

506
00:32:26.599 --> 00:32:32.319
on July twelveth. Upon his discharge, a days, Department of

507
00:32:32.319 --> 00:32:36.000
Homeland security agent had beg Ai sign a form saying

508
00:32:36.039 --> 00:32:41.160
he was arrested and placed in removal proceedings, but was

509
00:32:41.200 --> 00:32:44.559
reing released pending a hearing before an immigration judge in

510
00:32:44.640 --> 00:32:48.200
three months in Atlanta, where Baii had found work and

511
00:32:48.319 --> 00:32:52.000
was still planning to go. And Begai didn't really understand

512
00:32:52.039 --> 00:32:55.559
the paperwork he was signing. Although he had been discharged,

513
00:32:55.599 --> 00:33:00.400
he was still physically weak and cognitively impaired, and he

514
00:33:00.480 --> 00:33:06.319
needed constant care. And although he had been granted temporary

515
00:33:06.359 --> 00:33:09.960
work authorization, he wasn't really like good. I think you

516
00:33:10.039 --> 00:33:14.920
skipped over the part about his wife having breast cancer.

517
00:33:15.839 --> 00:33:17.680
Oh my god, No, you're right, okay, because I was

518
00:33:17.960 --> 00:33:21.640
talking about Lusisteria's medical issues and that that was the reason,

519
00:33:21.839 --> 00:33:24.039
because she was experiencing a lot of pain. That was

520
00:33:24.079 --> 00:33:26.000
the reason that Marianna wanted to come to the United

521
00:33:26.000 --> 00:33:31.000
States to make money to be able to pay for

522
00:33:31.039 --> 00:33:37.680
those things. Unfortunately, three months after Mariano's death, she was

523
00:33:37.759 --> 00:33:41.920
diagnosed with breast cancer. That's where all the pain was

524
00:33:41.920 --> 00:33:45.279
coming from. Yeah, and it had spread to her bones

525
00:33:45.599 --> 00:33:48.799
in her back, I think it said. And she died

526
00:33:49.000 --> 00:33:52.799
on July thirty first, twenty twenty three, and her and

527
00:33:53.799 --> 00:33:59.279
Mariano left behind two children. Oh yeah, I'm like, this

528
00:33:59.319 --> 00:34:03.200
family has been through enough man, and so yeah, begay

529
00:34:03.559 --> 00:34:06.519
was granted temporary work authorization, but he wasn't really able

530
00:34:06.559 --> 00:34:09.559
to work at this point, and attorney did help him

531
00:34:09.559 --> 00:34:12.960
apply for a U visa that's a specific kind of

532
00:34:13.039 --> 00:34:16.800
visa for victims of crimes. But this can take years

533
00:34:16.800 --> 00:34:20.599
to process. Right. Maddi was still in the United States

534
00:34:20.880 --> 00:34:24.360
through her own visa that she had been granted to

535
00:34:24.599 --> 00:34:30.159
visit Begai, and this visa was for thirty days, so

536
00:34:30.199 --> 00:34:33.440
she helped care for Bagae and then they went on

537
00:34:33.519 --> 00:34:36.679
to live with the relatives in Atlanta. After he was discharged,

538
00:34:37.400 --> 00:34:41.239
Madi requested an extension to visa, which was technically called

539
00:34:41.440 --> 00:34:45.719
humanitarian parole. Oh okay, and she wrote a letter explaining

540
00:34:45.760 --> 00:34:49.920
her situation, submitting it to the Atlanta Customs and Border

541
00:34:49.920 --> 00:34:54.440
Protection Office along with the letter of support from Begayi's doctor,

542
00:34:54.519 --> 00:34:57.159
basically saying he needs someone to care for him. Right,

543
00:34:57.679 --> 00:35:01.360
But her request was denied. Oh my fucking god. Yeah,

544
00:35:01.400 --> 00:35:03.280
I know, I was gonna cut you off, you know,

545
00:35:03.320 --> 00:35:04.880
when you were saying at least she was granted this

546
00:35:04.880 --> 00:35:09.119
blah blah blah, and I'm like, but hold on, yeah,

547
00:35:09.320 --> 00:35:12.039
And so after thirty days, she went back to Mexico.

548
00:35:14.280 --> 00:35:19.360
And as of the time that this article from The

549
00:35:19.400 --> 00:35:23.920
Texas Monthly was published in December twenty twenty five, Pegaye

550
00:35:23.960 --> 00:35:26.920
was still living in the US. He was working at

551
00:35:26.960 --> 00:35:30.440
a food truck long days, six days a week, sending

552
00:35:30.440 --> 00:35:33.880
money to support his family. He was still suffering from

553
00:35:33.960 --> 00:35:38.599
chronic pain and memory issues, and his immigration status is

554
00:35:38.639 --> 00:35:41.559
basically in limbo. He doesn't know where he stands, like

555
00:35:41.559 --> 00:35:43.639
with the U visa. He doesn't really know what's going on.

556
00:35:44.639 --> 00:35:48.760
And the journalist asked him like, oh, are you afraid

557
00:35:48.800 --> 00:35:51.639
of be deported? He's like not really, Honestly, it might

558
00:35:51.679 --> 00:35:54.559
be a blessing to go back to Mexico, but he

559
00:35:54.639 --> 00:35:58.320
wants to keep making money to support his family. And

560
00:35:58.679 --> 00:36:02.079
he also understands that to be deported doesn't mean simply

561
00:36:02.199 --> 00:36:04.400
to be sent back to Mexico, right, I means spending

562
00:36:05.039 --> 00:36:09.400
who knows how much amount of time at a detention

563
00:36:09.480 --> 00:36:12.400
center better known as a concentration camp. Right, and you

564
00:36:12.440 --> 00:36:14.760
know what the thing could send Someone else might be like, well,

565
00:36:14.800 --> 00:36:17.360
why not self deport He could still be stopped, like

566
00:36:17.440 --> 00:36:19.440
if he's going to fly to Mexico. He can still

567
00:36:19.440 --> 00:36:22.400
be stopped there at an airport and then take into

568
00:36:22.440 --> 00:36:24.920
a constitution cap and not allowed to leave and then

569
00:36:24.960 --> 00:36:28.880
spend months there, same as driving and leaving right and

570
00:36:28.960 --> 00:36:31.880
driving into Mexico. So how did how could he's trapped?

571
00:36:31.880 --> 00:36:35.280
He's trapped here, right? And he says, like the only

572
00:36:35.360 --> 00:36:37.280
positive is that he's able to make it of money

573
00:36:37.360 --> 00:36:40.239
out right now to support his family. But if it

574
00:36:40.360 --> 00:36:42.239
was like up to his own terms, he would simply

575
00:36:42.320 --> 00:36:45.239
walk across the bridge to go back to Mexico. What

576
00:36:45.360 --> 00:36:48.480
was about to cry again? Yeah, And that's that's what

577
00:36:48.559 --> 00:36:50.320
the thing we're saying right now is that he can't

578
00:36:50.360 --> 00:36:52.960
even do that though, Yeah, because he could be stopped

579
00:36:53.119 --> 00:36:55.559
on the way there. Yeah, Like people can't even leave

580
00:36:55.599 --> 00:36:57.880
on their own terms no matter what. Now right now

581
00:36:58.199 --> 00:37:01.719
the administration is saying now, yeah, and the most statistic

582
00:37:01.840 --> 00:37:04.599
thing is that they're encouraging people to self deport and

583
00:37:04.639 --> 00:37:07.599
then still detaining people, Yeah, because of these four profit

584
00:37:07.719 --> 00:37:12.000
concentration camps. And yeah, he wants nothing more than to

585
00:37:12.039 --> 00:37:16.599
be with his family and to hug Mariano's, Mardano's children,

586
00:37:16.679 --> 00:37:26.320
his nephew's brothers, his everyone arrested, which I had mentioned earlier.

587
00:37:26.360 --> 00:37:30.159
Were seven people in total were arrested, so everyone, including

588
00:37:30.239 --> 00:37:35.920
Omelo and Kisian pled guilty, except for Felippe or Luna

589
00:37:36.079 --> 00:37:40.559
Torre Suk You for Real and his father in law

590
00:37:40.800 --> 00:37:46.480
who was involved minimally but involved Armando Gonzales Garcia, who

591
00:37:46.519 --> 00:37:49.800
both went on to fight their charges in trial. However,

592
00:37:50.159 --> 00:37:53.400
in March twenty twenty five, a federal jury in Texas

593
00:37:53.400 --> 00:37:57.639
found them guilty. In September of that year, twenty twenty five,

594
00:37:57.760 --> 00:38:01.639
they were sentenced to eighty three years in prison, basically

595
00:38:01.719 --> 00:38:04.639
the rest of their lives, and they were also fined

596
00:38:04.800 --> 00:38:09.440
two hundred and fifty thousand each. Wow. Two survivors testified

597
00:38:09.599 --> 00:38:14.039
during the trial, including the teen girl whose screams alerted

598
00:38:14.079 --> 00:38:19.840
the workers. Her name is Sebastiana Morales. The siblings who

599
00:38:19.880 --> 00:38:23.920
were caring for her during the migration journey also survived.

600
00:38:24.000 --> 00:38:30.039
Their names are Glaci and Oswilo San Hai Bacajol Wow Joste.

601
00:38:30.119 --> 00:38:34.960
Luis Guzman was the other survivor who testified, and he

602
00:38:35.400 --> 00:38:38.440
was I think I mentioned the former Mexican soldier who

603
00:38:38.480 --> 00:38:40.199
was caring for the eighteen year old boy. Oh you,

604
00:38:41.519 --> 00:38:43.000
I think I forgot to write He yeah, he was

605
00:38:43.039 --> 00:38:47.199
a former Mexican soldier. Him and his cousin had basically

606
00:38:47.280 --> 00:38:49.440
taken over the care of the eighteen year old boy

607
00:38:49.519 --> 00:38:51.760
who his mom from Mexico City asked him to care

608
00:38:51.760 --> 00:38:56.679
for him. Yes, that was him, Okay. Unfortunately, the eighteen

609
00:38:56.719 --> 00:39:01.519
year old boy, Marco Antonio Velasco Velasco not survive and

610
00:39:01.760 --> 00:39:07.599
neither did Hote Luis's cousin, Javier Floras Lopez. And yeah,

611
00:39:07.639 --> 00:39:09.880
I mean during the trial they showed the pictures of

612
00:39:09.920 --> 00:39:15.599
all the victims, and when they showed when Jose Luis

613
00:39:15.679 --> 00:39:18.760
was testifying, they had a picture of his cousin Javier,

614
00:39:18.960 --> 00:39:25.199
and he broke down crying on the stand. Yeah. In

615
00:39:25.440 --> 00:39:30.239
twenty twenty four, a permanent memorial was constructed to honor

616
00:39:30.440 --> 00:39:33.920
the fifty three migrants who died on June twenty seventh,

617
00:39:34.159 --> 00:39:39.440
twenty twenty two. It consists of fifty three limestone block boulders,

618
00:39:39.599 --> 00:39:43.559
each boulder representing each one of the victims, and the

619
00:39:43.599 --> 00:39:46.400
boulders lead to a plaza with the sitting area and

620
00:39:46.440 --> 00:39:51.159
trees for shade. Each boulder ranges in size from thirteen

621
00:39:51.360 --> 00:39:56.239
to fifty five inches, corresponding with each of the victims' ages. Wow.

622
00:39:56.280 --> 00:39:59.840
So the youngest victim was thirteen year old Pascual Melvin

623
00:40:00.639 --> 00:40:07.920
Guaciac's feedback from Guatemala. And I think I had mentioned

624
00:40:07.920 --> 00:40:11.559
earlier that his cousin was the fourteen year old from

625
00:40:11.559 --> 00:40:15.320
Whatatemala who was to be ad but wanted to have

626
00:40:15.559 --> 00:40:20.400
money for his yeas or wanted to make money for them, yeah,

627
00:40:20.880 --> 00:40:24.639
to help raise them. Yeah, And the boulder in the

628
00:40:24.679 --> 00:40:27.679
middle of the plaza lists the names of all the

629
00:40:27.800 --> 00:40:32.840
victims and their countries of origin. Before the permanent memorial,

630
00:40:33.079 --> 00:40:37.239
community members had enacted and maintained a mix with memorial

631
00:40:37.320 --> 00:40:40.199
where they often left water bottles and gathered to like

632
00:40:40.239 --> 00:40:47.159
honor the lives that were lost. Oh my god. And yeah,

633
00:40:47.199 --> 00:40:51.639
that's the story of doing twenty twenty two. And if

634
00:40:51.639 --> 00:40:54.880
we just had open borders like this would have never happened, Okay,

635
00:40:55.079 --> 00:40:56.719
And that's kind of like what I wanted to talk

636
00:40:56.760 --> 00:41:04.119
about because and it's so it's like something we're always

637
00:41:04.119 --> 00:41:06.880
talking about, right, But over at Estadia Unknown our history

638
00:41:06.880 --> 00:41:10.199
of podcasts, we did that series on border patrol, right,

639
00:41:10.639 --> 00:41:16.039
and there was a point in time where deterrent policies

640
00:41:16.440 --> 00:41:19.880
were not used, right, And I mean, oh, are you

641
00:41:19.920 --> 00:41:24.239
gonna explain what the deterrent policy is kay, and deterrent

642
00:41:24.360 --> 00:41:31.119
policies are basically when border patrol started using the elements

643
00:41:31.280 --> 00:41:35.840
of the border lands basically to stop migrants from coming.

644
00:41:36.159 --> 00:41:40.159
And so yeah, this includes putting like fances everywhere, forcing

645
00:41:40.360 --> 00:41:43.559
migrants further and further into the deeper Yeah, that's a

646
00:41:43.559 --> 00:41:46.199
better word. Deeper and deeper into the desert. This is

647
00:41:46.239 --> 00:41:51.400
when migrants started dying in the in the deserts. They

648
00:41:51.400 --> 00:41:55.039
were pushed pushed more into dangerous areas of the Rio

649
00:41:55.039 --> 00:42:02.360
Grande River and so leading to more drown deaths. There's hundreds,

650
00:42:02.480 --> 00:42:06.599
hundreds and thousands of people that have lost their lives

651
00:42:06.639 --> 00:42:10.679
crossing into the United States because of these different policies,

652
00:42:11.679 --> 00:42:15.559
and every every year it seems to be getting worse.

653
00:42:15.760 --> 00:42:19.880
Right now, we talked about what is it called Operation

654
00:42:20.800 --> 00:42:24.199
Lone Star Lone Star in Texas, which was what a

655
00:42:24.239 --> 00:42:27.159
few years ago or was it longer ago? It started

656
00:42:28.360 --> 00:42:30.760
a few years ago, Yeah, a few years ago where

657
00:42:31.719 --> 00:42:38.239
Greg Abbad dot bitch. Yeah, basically he put so there's

658
00:42:38.280 --> 00:42:42.760
already deterrent policies forcing migrants into the elements, right, but

659
00:42:42.960 --> 00:42:48.440
he made those elements even worse by putting up essentially traps. Yeah,

660
00:42:48.599 --> 00:42:52.159
death traps, death traps for people, just horrible. And so,

661
00:42:53.239 --> 00:42:57.199
I mean, we talked about briefly about NAFTA. NAFTA is

662
00:42:57.639 --> 00:43:04.360
what does it stand for? National American Fair Trade Agreement Agreement. Yeah,

663
00:43:04.679 --> 00:43:08.360
North American, No North American, North American Fair Trade Agreement, right,

664
00:43:08.639 --> 00:43:12.800
And this was basically to increase free trade among the

665
00:43:12.880 --> 00:43:17.519
North Americas, Canada, Mexico, and the United States. But this

666
00:43:17.639 --> 00:43:24.639
in the process fucking Mexico right, right, So it it

667
00:43:24.800 --> 00:43:29.239
enabled the movement of product, but not people, right, like

668
00:43:29.280 --> 00:43:33.159
fuck those people that make those products, the people that

669
00:43:33.320 --> 00:43:37.639
make this capital. Right, And yeah, it made things worse

670
00:43:37.639 --> 00:43:41.360
for Mexico and the border lands. It led to Machila

671
00:43:41.400 --> 00:43:49.079
Loras factories I guess, yeah, where women were exploited, which

672
00:43:49.119 --> 00:43:53.000
we have talked about because if there's new listeners on

673
00:43:53.039 --> 00:43:56.519
this episode, first, what an episode to join us on.

674
00:43:57.119 --> 00:43:59.159
But oh my god, it's a worse Sorry if this

675
00:43:59.239 --> 00:44:04.719
is your But every March we cover like femicide stories

676
00:44:04.719 --> 00:44:08.559
of femicides from different places in Latin America, and one

677
00:44:08.599 --> 00:44:13.079
of the ones we've done was in Sua. Actually I

678
00:44:13.079 --> 00:44:16.000
think a couple from sud Asquadas, but a lot of

679
00:44:16.039 --> 00:44:20.039
the femicides in Suda aquadas are tied to the machiladas,

680
00:44:20.639 --> 00:44:28.800
where again women are exploited, abused, Yeah, killed. And even

681
00:44:29.079 --> 00:44:33.000
the use of this kind of smuggling operations didn't become

682
00:44:33.039 --> 00:44:38.000
big till after NAFTA either, Right, and there are was

683
00:44:38.039 --> 00:44:41.360
a time where people could just come and go in

684
00:44:41.400 --> 00:44:43.559
the border a lot easier. And like here we have

685
00:44:43.599 --> 00:44:46.760
an example, right there was that Mexican man, the eldest

686
00:44:47.079 --> 00:44:50.159
man who died in this tragedy. He had been living

687
00:44:50.199 --> 00:44:52.320
in the United States for twenty years and if he

688
00:44:52.360 --> 00:44:54.559
had simply been able to come and go, he would

689
00:44:54.559 --> 00:44:58.360
not have lost his life that day. Yeah, and people

690
00:44:58.360 --> 00:45:01.760
have been moving freely in the America because no, of course,

691
00:45:01.920 --> 00:45:06.840
the dawn of the America's migration is a natural human

692
00:45:10.039 --> 00:45:13.159
As my seven year old would say, people can move

693
00:45:13.360 --> 00:45:19.159
like the butterflies exactly. I'm gonna cry again, but like,

694
00:45:19.320 --> 00:45:21.760
I don't know, I don't remember what episode we first did,

695
00:45:21.800 --> 00:45:25.159
like Haunted Stories from the Border. Yeah, and in that episode,

696
00:45:25.159 --> 00:45:28.039
I was like, yeah, open borders, bitch, I don't care.

697
00:45:28.440 --> 00:45:30.639
And someone was like, you sound like someone's the comment

698
00:45:30.639 --> 00:45:38.480
on spot Spotify like pretty much guess what nation? Also

699
00:45:38.719 --> 00:45:43.719
nation nations. When nations were created, they genocided the indigenous people,

700
00:45:43.880 --> 00:45:47.880
So I mean, yeah, you know, And I'm like, I

701
00:45:47.880 --> 00:45:51.400
don't care, Like I leave your angry comment calling me stupid,

702
00:45:51.480 --> 00:45:55.000
I don't care like open borders all day. Yeah, they're like,

703
00:45:55.039 --> 00:45:57.480
what do you think that you actually everyone? Yeah I do.

704
00:45:58.880 --> 00:46:01.719
I'm sorry to say, oh, sorry, like I do. But

705
00:46:01.760 --> 00:46:04.440
that's what I'm saying. Okay, Like if there was a

706
00:46:04.519 --> 00:46:10.039
humane immigration policy which consisted of open which was let

707
00:46:10.079 --> 00:46:14.559
everybody in, people wouldn't stay. Some people, yes, would say here,

708
00:46:14.639 --> 00:46:17.639
make their lives here, but people just like they have

709
00:46:17.920 --> 00:46:21.400
always done so, they would come and go. Okay, And

710
00:46:21.480 --> 00:46:27.199
the United States has basically estorted Latin America for profit

711
00:46:28.079 --> 00:46:31.519
and that pushes people to come here. Everyone should read

712
00:46:31.840 --> 00:46:35.400
The Harvest of Latin America. Yeah, there's a quote in there,

713
00:46:35.440 --> 00:46:37.480
and I wish that this would have gotten more like

714
00:46:37.719 --> 00:46:40.119
views than it did in both TAC Instagram. Not because

715
00:46:40.119 --> 00:46:43.079
I want people to find me, no, because the quote

716
00:46:43.119 --> 00:46:47.320
was so impactful, but basically in Encuarto intimation, the quote

717
00:46:47.360 --> 00:46:52.840
was basically like, if it wasn't for the resources and

718
00:46:53.159 --> 00:46:55.199
like the work of the people of Latin America, the

719
00:46:55.280 --> 00:46:58.239
US wouldn't be what it was exactly. Yeah, the United

720
00:46:58.239 --> 00:47:02.440
States hadn't pillaged Latin America and the world, they wouldn't

721
00:47:02.440 --> 00:47:04.920
be where they're at. And so the only reason I'm

722
00:47:04.920 --> 00:47:07.480
pretty sure the word pillage is in the quote it is. Yeah,

723
00:47:07.519 --> 00:47:09.800
it is and yeah, And that's why I said in

724
00:47:09.840 --> 00:47:11.679
the at the top of the episode, like to me,

725
00:47:11.800 --> 00:47:14.559
it felt important, like, yes, this is hard to talk about,

726
00:47:16.320 --> 00:47:18.239
but I feel the need. I feel the need to

727
00:47:18.280 --> 00:47:24.079
talk about this because we were born by happen stance

728
00:47:24.719 --> 00:47:29.239
on this side of a made up border and because

729
00:47:29.599 --> 00:47:36.199
of no control of my own. You know, I am privileged, right,

730
00:47:37.239 --> 00:47:41.000
but had I been on the other side, outside of

731
00:47:41.199 --> 00:47:45.880
the empire, that could have been me on that trailer.

732
00:47:45.920 --> 00:47:47.400
And I'm not saying I care because it could have

733
00:47:47.400 --> 00:47:49.119
been me. I'm saying we should all care because the

734
00:47:49.199 --> 00:47:52.599
United States forces these conditions and causes these deaths, and

735
00:47:52.679 --> 00:47:54.679
so we all have blood on our hands. I'm sorry

736
00:47:54.719 --> 00:48:00.320
to say. Yeah. And because we all have that, it

737
00:48:00.400 --> 00:48:04.519
is I think a requirement that we learn these people's names.

738
00:48:04.679 --> 00:48:09.440
We have a responsibility, yeah, to bear witness, to share

739
00:48:09.480 --> 00:48:14.719
their stories, to take accountability, because the reason we have

740
00:48:14.840 --> 00:48:19.119
cheap products, cheap services is because of the pillaging, right,

741
00:48:19.159 --> 00:48:27.719
because of capitalism. And capitalism drives immigration. Capitalism needs immigration. Yeah,

742
00:48:27.760 --> 00:48:32.760
and no matter the amount of deterrence that are put

743
00:48:32.800 --> 00:48:36.639
in place, no matter the amount of like punishment that's

744
00:48:36.679 --> 00:48:39.559
put in place, people will come here and they will

745
00:48:39.599 --> 00:48:45.719
continue to die because of the United States immigration policies. Yeah. Yeah,

746
00:48:45.960 --> 00:48:48.960
and I think on that very depressing note, if we

747
00:48:49.599 --> 00:48:57.280
will end the episode. Yeah, but yeah, I don't know,

748
00:48:57.320 --> 00:49:02.440
look up a local or doing something to help migrants, Like,

749
00:49:02.519 --> 00:49:04.920
there's so many girl fundmes for people that have been

750
00:49:04.960 --> 00:49:09.519
detained and are now out of these detention centers. And

751
00:49:09.559 --> 00:49:11.559
if you don't have it, get some empathy, okay, because

752
00:49:11.559 --> 00:49:14.679
you're not better. No, you're not better than the migrant

753
00:49:14.800 --> 00:49:18.599
who came here in a truck, you know what I mean,

754
00:49:18.719 --> 00:49:22.119
You're not better than them. No, no, but I'm I

755
00:49:22.239 --> 00:49:25.800
implore someone or you listening right now to go find

756
00:49:25.840 --> 00:49:27.519
one of those go fund means. There's so many. I

757
00:49:27.559 --> 00:49:29.360
really don't feel like I need to link like the

758
00:49:29.440 --> 00:49:33.960
hundreds that I have found. Yeah, do five dollars at

759
00:49:33.960 --> 00:49:36.440
a time. But yeah, there's so many pages sharing them,

760
00:49:36.480 --> 00:49:40.320
we repost them all the time, and so many local organizations,

761
00:49:40.400 --> 00:49:43.360
local groups that are finding the good fight. And I'm

762
00:49:43.400 --> 00:49:46.320
sure there's one year you there's no doubt. There's no

763
00:49:46.360 --> 00:49:56.920
doubt there is so yeah. Other than that, don't despair. Okay, nice, yes,

764
00:49:57.119 --> 00:50:00.599
and stay Spookie. We'll catch everyone next time. Bye bye.

765
00:50:02.039 --> 00:50:05.000
As Booktels is hosted by Christina and Carmen, produced and

766
00:50:05.119 --> 00:50:08.599
edited by Christina, researched by Christina Carmen and with the

767
00:50:08.599 --> 00:50:11.280
help of Don Shout Out Don. If you aren't joying

768
00:50:11.280 --> 00:50:13.480
the podcast considerably, going to say five star review, we

769
00:50:13.519 --> 00:50:15.239
would really appreciate it. If you don't want to the

770
00:50:15.440 --> 00:50:17.519
five star review, just don't leave a review. But don't

771
00:50:17.559 --> 00:50:19.840
eve anything lower than that, please, I'm just kidding. You

772
00:50:19.880 --> 00:50:22.400
can reach out to the podcast at at spoakatos at

773
00:50:22.400 --> 00:50:24.199
gmail dot com. You can go to our website at

774
00:50:24.239 --> 00:50:27.480
bookitos dot com and fill out the contact form. If

775
00:50:27.519 --> 00:50:29.559
you want to support the podcast, you can join our

776
00:50:29.599 --> 00:50:33.840
Patreon where we send exclusive stickers, have bonus episodes. Eight

777
00:50:33.880 --> 00:50:37.119
dollar members get an exclusive keychain. It's super cool. I

778
00:50:37.400 --> 00:50:39.840
got new ones and these ones are huge. And if

779
00:50:39.880 --> 00:50:42.079
you want to support but you can or don't want

780
00:50:42.119 --> 00:50:44.360
to join the Patreon, that's fine too. You can also

781
00:50:44.519 --> 00:50:48.239
get some merch you can find sure Sessay, Spooky and

782
00:50:48.360 --> 00:50:51.320
old English letters. There's a beanie. I love the beanie.

783
00:50:51.400 --> 00:50:55.719
There's also a hat. There's a no Mamus shirt, which

784
00:50:55.840 --> 00:50:59.480
is a fan favorite. There's a lot of options, crap tops, sweaters,

785
00:50:59.480 --> 00:51:03.159
it's almost sweatter weather. We're nearing a Spookie season, so yeah,

786
00:51:03.280 --> 00:51:05.320
get your hoodies. You're gonna need them. If you don't

787
00:51:05.320 --> 00:51:07.280
want to do all that, that's fine too. You can

788
00:51:07.360 --> 00:51:09.840
just listen like you're listening now, and that's the best

789
00:51:09.840 --> 00:51:11.679
support that you can give us. Like I always say

790
00:51:11.760 --> 00:51:14.360
in our ad break and yeah, I feel like history.

791
00:51:14.400 --> 00:51:19.239
You can follow Estodia's Unknown Mining, Carment's other podcasts, and

792
00:51:19.599 --> 00:51:21.360
you can find a Spooky Tells on all of our

793
00:51:21.400 --> 00:51:24.440
socials at a Spooky Tells All this is in the

794
00:51:24.480 --> 00:51:28.159
show notes and we appreciate every single listen. Thank you

795
00:51:28.320 --> 00:51:29.840
so much. Stay as Spooky