A 61-year-old San Antonio man has pleaded guilty to two federal charges in the human smuggling incident that led to the deaths of 10 undocumented immigrants this summer.
James Matthew Bradley Jr., who appeared before a U.S. magistrate on Monday, pleaded guilty to “one count of conspiracy to transport aliens resulting in death and one count of transporting aliens resulting in in death,” according to a declaration from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas.
The office added that Bradley’s “guilty plea” meant that he packed dozens of unauthorized immigrants into a tractor-trailer for financial gain, adding that the suspect confirmed the details in court documents were “actually correct”.
On July 23, officers with the San Antonio Police Department responded to a call from a Walmart employee shortly after midnight. When officers arrived, they found 39 immigrants at the scene. Of those taken in the trailer, eight were found dead in the back of the trailer, while two later died in nearby hospitals, the statement said.
Survivors of the incident said there was no air conditioning in the overheated trailer and had to take turns breathing through a hole in the back of the truck for air. Bradley also initially told investigators that he was unaware of the immigrants in the trailer until he stopped at the Walmart in San Antonio for the bathroom.
The attorney’s office also said that Bradley faces life in prison on the charges and that he is expected to be sentenced in January 2018. Immigrants said that there were up to 200 people transported on to the trailer and that the various rates were quoted to him for the journey. north of the US-Mexico border, the statement added.
Jason Buch of the San Antonio Express-News he told the NewsHour Earlier this year, Border Patrol agents in Laredo, Texas, reported an increase in immigrants using tractor-trailers to pass checkpoints at the border.
“People are usually going to large metropolitan areas or regions of the country that employ a lot of immigrant workers, so, areas with large agricultural industries or construction booms,” Buch said.
Shane M. Folden, the special agent in charge of homeland security investigations in San Antonio, said in the statement that the trial “helps close the door on one of the conspirators responsible for causing the tragic loss of life and to wreak havoc on those who survived this terrible incident.”
“This case is a stark reminder that foreign smugglers are driven by greed and have little regard for the health and well-being of their human cargo, which can be a deadly combination,” he added.
Bradley’s co-defendant, Pedro Silva Segura, was also charged last month with two counts of conspiracy and two counts of transporting undocumented immigrants resulting in serious bodily injury and endangering life.
Segura, 47, is an undocumented immigrant who resides in Laredo, Texas.
