Page 11 - AHATA

A4 U.S. NEWS
Saturday 28 June 2025
Smugglers to spend life in prison for 53 migrant deaths in 2022

human smuggling tragedy in Texas

By JIM VERTUNO taken to hospitals, where
Associated Press five more died. The dead
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Two included six children and a
smugglers convicted of pregnant woman.
federal charges in connec- The judge allowed victim
tion with the deaths of 53 family members in Mexico,
migrants found in the back Honduras and Guatemala
of a sweltering tractor-trail- to watch the sentencing
er in Texas in 2022 will spend hearing via video con-
the rest of their lives in pris- ference. Some provided
on after being sentenced statements to be read and
Friday on the third anniver- the judge also read the
sary of the tragedy. names of the 53 who died.
Felipe Orduna-Torres and Investigators said Orduna-
Armando Gonzales-Ortega Torres and Gonzales-Orte-
were the first of several de- ga worked with human
fendants to be sentenced smuggling operations in
for what remains the na- Guatemala, Honduras and
tion’s deadliest human Mexico, and shared routes,
smuggling attempt across guides, stash houses, trucks
the U.S.-Mexico border. and trailers. Orduna-Torres
A federal jury convicted provided the address in
the men in March of being Laredo where they would
part of a human smuggling Angelita Olvera visits a memorial honoring the victims and survivors of a human smuggling be picked up, and Gonza-
tragedy where dozens of migrants were found in an airless tractor-trailer rig two years ago, in San
conspiracy that resulted in Antonio, Friday, June 27, 2025. lez-Ortega met them there.
death and injury. They were Associated Press Prosecutors estimated the
sentenced by U.S. District group smuggled more than
Judge Orlando Garcia at a “These criminals will spend from Guatemala, Hondu- hour drive to San Antonio. 1,100 people across the
hearing in San Antonio. the rest of their lives in pris- ras and Mexico and had As the temperature rose in- border between Novem-
Prosecutors described on because of their cruel paid between $12,000 and side the trailer, those inside ber 2021 and June 2022,
Orduna-Torres, 30, as the choice to profit off of hu- $15,000 each to be smug- screamed and banged on collecting more than $13
leader of the smuggling man suffering,” U.S. Attor- gled into the United States, the walls of the trailer for million.
operation inside the U.S. ney General Pamela Bondi according to an indict- help or tried to claw their Justin Simmons, U.S. At-
and he was sentenced said. “Today’s sentences ment in the case. They had way out, investigators said. torney for the Western Dis-
to life in prison. Gonzales- are a powerful message made it as far as the Texas Most eventually passed trict of Texas, called those
Ortega, 55, was his top as- to human smugglers every- border city of Laredo when out. When the trailer was figures a warning for any-
sistant and was sentenced where: we will not rest until they were placed into a opened in San Antonio, one thinking of paying
to 83 years. The federal pris- you are behind bars.” tractor-trailer with broken 48 people were already to be smuggled into the
on system has no parole. The immigrants had come air conditioning for a three- dead. Another 16 were country.q

Judge blocks Georgia’s social media age verification law, citing

free speech concerns

By JEFF AMY rigorous scrutiny that the Constitution re-
Associated Press quires,” Totenberg wrote, finding the law
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia has become restricts the rights of minors, chills the right
the latest state where a federal judge has to anonymous speech online and restricts
blocked a law requiring age verification the ability of people to receive speech
for social media accounts. from social media platforms.
Like in seven other states where such Georgia will appeal, a spokesperson for
laws have been blocked, a federal judge Attorney General Chris Carr said Thurs-
ruled Thursday that the Georgia law in- day.
fringes on free speech rights. “We will continue to defend common-
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Amy To- sense measures that empower parents
tenberg means that the Georgia mea- and protect our children online,” spokes-
sure, which passed in 2024, won’t take person Kara Murray said in a statement.
effect next week as scheduled. Instead, Parents and even some teens themselves
Totenberg granted a preliminary injunc- are growing increasingly concerned
tion blocking the law until there’s a full rul- about the effects of social media use
ing on the issue. Georgia’s law would re- on young people. Supporters of the laws
quire some social media providers to take have said they are needed to help curb
“commercially reasonable” steps to verify the explosive use of social media among
a user’s age and require children younger young people, and what researchers say
than 16 to get parental permission for ac- is an associated increase in depression
counts. It was challenged by NetChoice, and anxiety. Totenberg said concerns
This combination of photos from 2017 to 2022 shows the a trade group representing online busi- about social media harming children are
logos of Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat on mobile nesses. “The state seeks to erect barri- legitimate, but don’t outweigh the consti-
devices.
Associated Press ers to speech that cannot withstand the tutional violation.q