SAN ANTONIO – Two men were handed lengthy prison sentences Friday for their roles in a tragic 2022 human smuggling operation in San Antonio that left 54 people dead inside a sealed tractor-trailer.

Felipe Orduna-Torres was sentenced on Friday to two consecutive life terms plus an additional 20-year sentence for his role in the 2022 San Antonio migrant tragedy, one of the deadliest human smuggling incidents in U.S. history.

He was believed to be the mastermind behind the smuggling scheme.

Armando Gonzales-Ortega received a sentence of more than 83 years for his involvement.

During the hearing, Orduna-Torres’s attorney argued that his client is physically and mentally disabled and was unaware that the smuggling operation would lead to such a high death toll. The judge rejected this defense, citing testimony from the driver who reported migrants screaming, banging on the walls, and pleading to be let out.

Prosecutors maintained that Orduna-Torres was kept informed in real time as the tragedy unfolded, knowing that the refrigerated trailer’s cooling system had failed while migrants desperately tried to escape. They further alleged that he had ties to a cartel that enabled continued human smuggling and managed stash houses where migrants were confined without water, food, or beds until enough people were gathered for transport.

At one point during sentencing, Orduna-Torres protested the severity of the charges, calling it unfair to face the full extent of the law and to spend the rest of his life behind bars.

The judge responded sharply, “Are you serious?”

The judge also updated the death toll to 54, noting that one of the victims was pregnant. Prosecutors read impact statements from the victims’ families and displayed photographs of those who perished.

“These criminals will spend the rest of their lives in prison because of their cruel choice to profit off of human suffering,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “Today’s sentences are a powerful message to human smugglers everywhere: we will not rest until you are behind bars.”

In a brief statement, Gonzales-Ortega expressed remorse, telling the court he “wants forgiveness from all the victims and everyone.”

After sentencing, the judge requested that Orduna-Torres be kept in the United States to serve his full sentence and advised him to keep the details of his case quiet to protect his safety in prison.

“Three years to the day after these two smugglers and their co-conspirators left dozens of men, women, and children locked in a sweltering tractor-trailer to die in the Texas summer heat, they learned that they will spend the rest of their lives locked away in a federal prison,” said U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons for the Western District of Texas. “We recognize the justice handed down by Judge Garcia and thank our law enforcement partners for their great work that led to today’s outcome. At the same time, we reinforce the message that these criminal organizations will not place the lives of the desperate and vulnerable above their own financial enrichment.”

A jury convicted the men in March of being part of a human smuggling conspiracy that resulted in death and injury.

Prosecutors described Orduna-Torres as the leader of the smuggling operation inside the U.S. and Gonzales-Ortega as his top assistant.

The immigrants had come from Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico and had paid between $12,000 and $15,000 each to be smuggled into the United States, according to an indictment in the case. They had made it as far as the Texas border city of Laredo when they were placed into a tractor-trailer with broken air conditioning for a three-hour drive to San Antonio.

As the temperature rose inside the trailer, those inside screamed and banged the walls of the trailer for help or tried to claw their way out, investigators said. Most eventually passed out. When the trailer was opened in San Antonio, 48 people were already dead. Another 16 were taken to hospitals, where five more died. The dead included six children and a pregnant woman.

Investigators said the Orduna-Torres and Gonzales-Ortega worked with human smuggling operations in Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, and shared routes, guides, stash houses, trucks and trailers. Orduna-Torres provided the address in Laredo where they would be picked up, and Gonzalez-Ortega met them there.

Five other men previously pleaded guilty to felony charges in the smuggling case, including the truck driver Homero Zamorano Jr., who was found hiding near the trailer in some bushes. Zamorano faces up to life in prison when sentenced in December. The other defendants are scheduled to be sentenced later this year.

The incident is the deadliest among tragedies that have claimed thousands of lives in recent decades as people attempt to cross the U.S. border from Mexico. Ten immigrants died in 2017 after they were trapped inside a truck parked at a Walmart store in San Antonio. In 2003, the bodies of 19 immigrants were found in a sweltering truck southeast of San Antonio.

“This was a major milestone in this case, with these individuals effectively going away for the rest of their lives,” said Justin Simmons, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas.

Prosecutors say 32-year-old Felipe Orduna-Torres was one of the main coordinators, who had live updates as the tragedy unfolded and knew the cooling system in the tractor was not working as people scratched and banged on the tractor trailer walls, begging to get out.

He was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences plus twenty years for a third charge.

“These men loaded 64 people, including children and a pregnant woman, into a tractor trailer with no functioning air cons, air conditioning, and sent them to the south Texas, scorching heat,” said Simmons.

Orduna-Torres’s father-in-law Armando Gonzales-Ortega was sentenced to more than 87 years.

Investigators said Gonzales-Ortega is a U.S. resident and traveled across the border to transport money and facilitate transportation including pick up and drop off locations.

Prosecutors said the sentences are not enough to repair the damage 64 families suffered across four countries.

“Family members who experience so much stress at the loss of their loved ones that their own health deteriorated, and they subsequently passed away,” said Simmons.

Six of the victims that died were minors.

Today during the sentencing, they read an impact statement from a 13-year-old who said her son just wanted to come to the United States for a better life.