Tractor-trailer in deadly smuggling attempt passed through checkpoint


The 18-wheeler used in a human-smuggling attempt that left 53 people dead inside its sweltering trailer traveled through an inland U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint with 73 migrants inside, The Associated Press and KHOU report.
A U.S official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it wasn't immediately clear whether the vehicle was stopped or passed unimpeded through the checkpoint on Interstate 35, 26 miles northeast of the border city of Laredo, Texas.
Four suspects have been arrested in connection with the tragedy, including the alleged driver of the truck, Homero Zamorano Jr. The Justice Department said Zamorano, 45, was found in a field near the truck, pretending to be one of the smuggled migrants who survived.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.
-
Israel: Losing the American public
Feature A recent poll finds American support for Israel's military action in Gaza has fallen from 50% to 32%
-
Unmaking Americans
Feature Trump is threatening to revoke the citizenship of foreign-born Americans. Could he do that?
-
EPA: A bonfire of climate change regulations
Feature The Environmental Protection Agency wants to roll back its 'endangerment finding,' a ruling that lets the agency regulate carbon emissions
-
Unmaking Americans: Trump aims to revoke citizenship
Feature Trump is threatening to revoke the citizenship of foreign-born Americans. Could he do that?
-
Trump sends FBI to patrol DC, despite falling crime
Speed Read Washington, D.C., 'has become one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the world,' Trump said
-
DHS preps for major ICE expansion, rankling local law enforcement
IN THE SPOTLIGHT As the Trump administration positions ICE as the primary federal police force, its recruitment efforts have been met with a less-than-enthusiastic response
-
Trump officials reinstating 2 Confederate monuments
Speed Read The administration has plans to 'restore Confederate names and symbols' discarded in the wake of George Floyd's 2020 murder
-
Trump nominates Powell critic for vacant Fed seat
speed read Stephen Miran, the chair of Trump's Council of Economic Advisers and a fellow critic of Fed chair Jerome Powell, has been nominated to fill a seat on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors
-
ICE scraps age limits amid hiring push
Speed Read Anyone 18 or older can now apply to be an ICE agent
-
Trump's global tariffs take effect, with new additions
Speed Read Tariffs on more than 90 US trading partners went into effect, escalating the global trade war
-
House committee subpoenas Epstein files
Speed Read The House Oversight Committee has issued a subpoena to the Justice Department for its Jeffrey Epstein files with an Aug. 19 deadline