Eleven of the 53 migrants killed after being trapped in a sweltering tractor trailer had previously committed serious crimes in the US, a Texas Congressman reports. 

Congressman Henry Cuellar, aDemocrat from Laredo,  says that the eleven migrants charged with crimes in the United States had been here before, and were attempting to come back when they died. 

“Eleven people had serious criminal records in the U.S. — not in their countries — in the United States. So that means they’d been here before and they had broken the law,” Cuellar told Border Report, reported Fox 2.

“They were not DWIs or parking tickets. These were serious felony records in the U.S., and so they had been here before and 20% had serious felony records in the US,” he continued, pointing out that some of the charges included child abuse and homicide. The names, ages, and exact felony charges of the aforementioned migrants have not been released. 

The trailer housing the 53 migrants made it through the Border Patrol checkpoint 29 miles outside of Laredo, Texas, commonly called “Charley checkpoint 29.” Between October 1st, 2021 and July 6th, 2022, Border Patrol Agents stopped 195 tractor trailers attempting to smuggle undocumented migrants through the checkpoint, “rescuing” somewhere between 7,800 and 8,000 migrants from potentially deadly situations like the one in San Antonio.

 “And that’s not counting other vehicles that they have caught,” Cuellar said. “That’s almost one a day they’re trying to get in through the Laredo checkpoint.”

The Department of Homeland Security is currently leading the investigation into the 53 deaths, and three people have been arrested in connection with the incident.