Two Guatemalan nationals have pleaded guilty to their roles in a human smuggling operation that led to a catastrophic tractor-trailer crash in Mexico in 2021, which killed 56 people and injured more than 100 others. Josefa Quino Canil De Zavala and Alberto Marcario Chitic entered guilty pleas for conspiring to bring illegal immigrants into the United States, placing lives in jeopardy and resulting in death, according to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials.
The two smugglers were among five Guatemalan nationals extradited to the United States in 2025 to face charges, while a sixth alleged co-conspirator was arrested in Texas. Officials stated that the crash is a tragic consequence of previous open border policies, with one official calling it a humanitarian crisis that allowed smugglers to profit from the deaths of migrants.
Prosecutors described the Dec. 9, 2021, crash as involving a highly organized, profit-driven network that treated human beings like a supply chain. The smugglers reportedly recruited migrants in Guatemala, collected payment, and transported them in cattle trucks and tractor-trailers toward the U.S. border. The fatal wreck occurred north of the Guatemala-Mexico border.
According to a statement from the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, human smugglers demonstrated a disregard for the risks migrants faced, including extreme heat and dangerous travel conditions. The acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas highlighted the calculated nature of the operation, noting that the smuggling network provided scripts to children to mislead law enforcement if apprehended.
The prosecution was conducted by Joint Task Force Alpha, a partnership between the Justice Department and DHS focused on dismantling cartels and transnational criminal organizations. The task force has reported over 458 arrests and more than 408 U.S. convictions of leaders and significant facilitators of illegal immigrant smuggling.