Northeast Cartel among possible suspects of San Antonio tragedy

To cross into the United States at the Texas border, migrants are commonly forced to pay criminal groups. However, no one crosses the Rio Grande without the Northeast Cartel allowing it, according to reports published by Mexican media.

This organization takes migrants to its so-called safe houses or helps them cross in vehicles that are then abandoned on Texas highways.

"Those from the Northeast Cartel charge up to $8,000 for passage. Many caravan members go elsewhere. As you can imagine, we have a lot of kidnappings," explained Greg Burwell, deputy chief of the Border Patrol in the Laredo sector, as quoted by UnoTV.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been able to identify how criminal gangs are seeking to enlist adolescents to drive the vehicles in which migrants are transported for a fee of up to $500 per operation.

U.S. authorities reported on Tuesday that 50 migrants died inside an abandoned tractor-trailer truck on the southwest side of San Antonio, Texas, while 12 others are in nearby hospitals.

San Antonio Fire Department Chief Charles Hood confirmed that the migrants died of exhaustion and overheating inside the truck, which did not have air conditioning.

According to another official, there was evidence that the migrants tried to get out of the trailer, as some of the deceased were found several blocks away.

In addition, he said that several of the bodies found inside the vehicle appeared to have been doused with meat sauce, in a possible attempt to mask the migrants' odor in order to circumvent border controls.

U.S. Border Patrol reports state that criminal organizations often leave migrants stranded once they enter the country. They then face other dangers, such as temperatures hovering around 40 degrees Celsius in the desert, as well as a lack of clean water and food.

"They are capable of anything and the immigrants who cross, they take them many times, they call them safe houses, which is not a good name, because there is nothing safe there. They put them in these houses and then they start extorting them, some of them turn them into mules, who have to carry drugs," Burwell added.

After the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that at least 22 of the victims are of Mexican origin, the Attorney General's Office announced that it will open an investigation into the case.