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Federal agents are investigating the deaths of six people found inside a shipping container at a Union Pacific rail yard near the Mexico border in Laredo, Texas, as a potential human smuggling event, according to Homeland Security Investigations. The finding was made Sunday afternoon when a Union Pacific employee discovered the bodies at the rail yard, the Laredo Police Department’s public information officer, Jose Baeza, said. Webb County medical examiner Dr. Corinne Stern is conducting autopsies.
Stern told investigators that she had completed an autopsy for a 29-year-old Mexican woman and that the woman died of hyperthermia, or heat stroke. Stern also said she believes the other victims died from heat stroke, but she could not rule on their causes of death until she finishes the remaining autopsies. She estimated it took up to eight hours for the people to succumb to illness.
Stern said the medical examiner’s office found identification cards and cellphones at the scene that indicate the deceased may be from Mexico and Honduras. She said fingerprints were taken and shared with U.S. Border Patrol to help confirm identities and nationalities through the Missing Alien Program. The medical examiner’s office also contacted the Mexican consulate after identifying the woman.
Homeland Security Investigations said in a statement that it is “actively investigating this case as a potential human smuggling event with assistance from the Laredo Police Department and Texas Rangers.” Stern characterized the scene as “a horrific scene,” and she said immigrant deaths are a common occurrence in the 10-county region her office covers. She added that this spring has been busier than it was this time last year, referencing the number of migrant deaths recorded by her office in the prior year.
Border encounters have shifted in recent years, according to the Associated Press report: the story said about 40 people were encountered daily in March crossing illegally by Border Patrol agents in Laredo and that the sector was the third busiest among nine along the southern border. The report also said the travel history of the shipping container was not known and that the criminal investigation had not yet determined why the people who died did not climb out of the container.
Union Pacific said in a statement that it is saddened by the incident and is working closely with law enforcement to investigate. The Associated Press report noted that trains and containers crossing the border have been a long-standing concern for smugglers because rail traffic can slow or stop in Mexico before crossing into the United States, creating opportunities for people to climb aboard or for contraband to be hidden before crossing. It also said Union Pacific has worked with authorities for years, including by installing inspection portals to scan trains and take pictures to spot abnormalities suggestive of contraband or immigrants aboard.