Ten illegal immigrants died after being packed into the back of a broiling tractor-trailer in Texas — and their deaths are on the hands of Democrats.
That’s according to Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who blamed sanctuary cities for enriching human traffickers and drug smugglers.
“Sanctuary cities entice people to believe they can come to America and Texas and live outside the law. Sanctuary cities also enable human smugglers and cartels. Today, these people paid a terrible price and demonstrate why we need a secure border and legal immigration reform so we can control who enters our country,” Davis said in a Facebook post.
“We continue to pray for the families and friends of the victims,” he continued.
In other words, if Democrats enforced federal laws in their cities, there wouldn’t be as much money in border crossings. That means illegal immigrants would never be brought in by drug cartels — which would have saved the lives of these ten people.
A suspect arrested in connection with the deaths awaited a court appearance Monday over his alleged role in the human-trafficking attempt gone wrong.
Federal prosecutors said they planned to bring charges against James Mathew Bradley Jr., 60, of Clearwater, Florida. They would not immediately confirm he was the driver of the rig, though local authorities said over the weekend that the driver was arrested.
Authorities discovered eight bodies inside the crowded 18-wheeler parked outside a Walmart in the summer heat, and a ninth victim died at the hospital. Officials feared the death toll could rise because nearly 20 others rescued from the truck were in dire condition, many suffering from extreme dehydration and heatstroke.
“We’re looking at a human-trafficking crime,” said San Antonio Police Chief William McManus, calling it “a horrific tragedy.”
It was not immediately known whether Bradley had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
The victims “were very hot to the touch. So these people were in this trailer without any signs of any type of water,” Fire Chief Charles Hood said.
Authorities would not say whether the trailer was locked when they arrived, but they said it had no working air conditioning.
It was the latest smuggling-by-truck operation to end in tragedy. In one of the worst cases on record in the U.S., 19 immigrants locked inside a stifling rig died in Victoria, Texas, in 2003.
Based on initial interviews with survivors of the San Antonio case, more than 100 people may have been packed into the back of the truck at one point in its journey, ICE acting Director Thomas Homan said. Officials said 39 people were inside when rescuers arrived, and the rest were believed to have escaped or hitched rides to their next destination.
At least some of those inside the truck were from Mexico and Guatemala, according to diplomats form the two countries. Four of the survivors appeared to be between 10 and 17 years old, Homan said.
Investigators gave no details on where the rig began its journey or where it was headed.
But Homan said it was unlikely the truck was used to carry the immigrants across the border into the United States. He said people from Latin America who rely on smuggling networks typically cross the border on foot and are then picked up by a driver.
“Even though they have the driver in custody, I can guarantee you there’s going to be many more people we’re looking for to prosecute,” Homan said.
Department Secretary John Kelly said the incident demonstrates the brutality of smuggling organizations that “have no regard for human life and seek only profits.”
Even more tragic is how common these kinds of deaths are.
In the May 2003 case, the illegal immigrants were being taken from South Texas to Houston. Prosecutors said the driver heard them begging and screaming for their lives but refused to free them. The driver was sentenced to nearly 34 years in prison.
The Border Patrol has reported at least four truck seizures this month in and around Laredo, Texas. On July 7, agents found 72 people crammed into a truck with no means of escape, the agency said. They were from Mexico, Ecuador, Guatemala and El Salvador.
Authorities in Mexico have also made a number of similar discoveries over the years.
Last December, they found 110 migrants trapped and suffocating inside a truck in the state of Veracruz. Last October, also in Veracruz state, four migrants suffocated in a truck carrying 55 people.
If there were a secure border wall, they’d all be alive because they’d never have left home.
The Associated Press contributed to this article