LAREDO, Texas — A Guatemalan man pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to a felony and admitted involvement in an attempt to smuggle migrants that ended when an overcrowded tractor-trailer crashed in Mexico in 2021, killing more than 50 people.
Daniel Zavala Ramos, 42, faces a possible life sentence after pleading guilty in U.S. District Court in Laredo, Texas, to a single count of conspiring to transport undocumented migrants from Guatemala through Mexico to the United States, an offense that prosecutors say placed lives in jeopardy and resulted in serious injuries and deaths, the U.S. Department of Justice said. Sentencing is scheduled for July 7.
Ramos is the first of six Guatemalans charged in connection with the semitrailer crash to be convicted; the other five defendants have a final pretrial conference set for June 3, according to court records. Ramos’ attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Authorities say at least 160 migrants, many from Guatemala, had been packed into the truck when it struck the support base of a pedestrian bridge on Dec. 9, 2021, and overturned. At least 53 people were killed and more than 100 injured, and video from the scene showed dead and wounded migrants in a pile inside the collapsed freight container. The Justice Department said the dead included unaccompanied children.
The crash occurred on a highway en route to the Chiapas state capital, about 160 miles (260 kilometers) from Mexico’s border with Guatemala and roughly 1,400 miles (2,300 kilometers) south of the U.S. border with Texas.
Authorities announced arrests of Ramos and five others in Guatemala and Texas in 2024 on the third anniversary of the accident. Ramos was extradited from Guatemala in 2025 to face the charges, the DOJ statement said.
Prosecutors say the group conspired to smuggle migrants for payment, sometimes providing scripts for unaccompanied children to use if apprehended. They allegedly moved migrants by foot, in microbuses, cattle trucks and tractor-trailers, and used Facebook Messenger to request and deliver identification documents intended to help migrants enter the United States.
