Immigrants remembered

last updated 8 January 2015

Houston

Hundreds of people crowded into a Houston church this week to mourn 19 illegal immigrants who died while trapped in a tractor-trailer that had carried them over the Mexican border. Police said the driver, Tyrone Williams, 32, unhitched the trailer and abandoned it 100 miles southeast of Houston, with 70 to 100 people locked inside. Many said they paid nearly $2,000 to smugglers for passage into the U.S. By the time someone pried open the doors, 17 people had died of dehydration, hyperthermia, and suffocation. Two others died later. “Those people just wanted to come and make a better life,” said Jeannette Morales, 18, whose husband was among the dead. Police arrested Williams and three others on smuggling charges, and launched a search for more suspects.