HOUSTON – FIEL members in Houston gathered Tuesday to caravan to San Antonio to deliver 53 crosses in memory of the deaths of the 53 migrants found in the back of a trailer tractor in June.
They put the crosses in the ground where the tractor-trailer was stranded on the side of the road. Each cross was handmade with the word “Houston” in the middle.
This was the deadliest tragedy to claim the lives of migrants smuggled across the border from Mexico.
The truck had been packed with 67 people, and the dead included 27 from Mexico, 14 from Honduras, seven from Guatemala and two from El Salvador, said Francisco Garduño, the chief of Mexico’s National Immigration Institute.
“This is the worst tragedy of its kind in U.S. History. We must not normalize these tragedies otherwise we become immune to the suffering of our fellow human beings,” FIEL Executive Director Cesar Espinosa said. “We must not only remember these 53 souls that lost their lives but we must also make sure that we continue to advocate for more humane immigration policies so more brothers and sisters do not have to risk their lives crossing the border. We must do better, we must find common sense solutions to these broken systems. If not now, how many more lives will we have to lose to finally make a change?”
The driver of the truck and two other people were arrested, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas told The Associated Press.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.