Mexican and U.S. officials have reportedly identified the man suspected of driving the truck that carried dozens of migrants to their deaths in the Texas heat.
According to a report by Reuters news agency, 45-year-old Homero Zamorano also tried to avoid arrest in the deaths by initially posing as one of the victimized immigrants.
Reuters cited “a Mexican official and two U.S. officials” who all spoke on condition of anonymity.
The news service also said its reporters had seen “an identification document [that] showed he had an address in Houston.”
U.S. officials continued to pursue criminal charges against the driver and two other men, both Mexican citizens, arrested in San Antonio — identified as Juan Francisco D’Luna-Bilbao and Juan Claudio D’Luna-Mendez.
The death toll rose Wednesday to 53 as more of the people trapped inside the tractor-trailer for hours in 100-degree heat near San Antonio have died in the hospital.
Mexican immigration officials published on Wednesday surveillance photographs of the truck from immigration check points.
Francisco Garduno, the head of Mexico’s National Migration Institute, said two U.S. Customs and Border Protection checkpoints in Texas captured the tractor-trailer on security cameras.
About half of the dead in the worst human-smuggling carnage in recent U.S. history were Mexican nationals.
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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