Investigators Said Undocumented Immigrants Were Coming To Houston

SAN ANTONIO TX — A tractor-trailer involved in the alleged human trafficking scheme that resulted in the deaths of nine undocumented immigrants was apparently headed to the Houston area, according to at least two survivors found inside the truck’s trailer.

Eight men were found dead, and 39 others suffered severe heat-related injuries after they were found packed inside a tractor-trailer parked outside a Walmart store in San Antonio early Sunday morning.

Officials believe the tractor-trailer, which was registered to Pyle Transportation Inc., in Shaller, Iowa, according to a KTRK report, originated in Laredo, Texas, near the Texas-Mexico border.

RELATED: Texas Human Trafficking Case: 9 Dead, Dozens Hospitalized After Being Found In Truck (UPDATE)

Officials became involved when one of the undocumented immigrants asked one of the employees, who was in the parking lot, for water, the Houston Chronicle reported.

The employee gave the man water, and then called police who made the grim discovery.

San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said the victims included children between the ages of 10-17 years old, as well as men in their 20s and 30s.

The eight who died inside the tractor-trailer, as well as the person who died later an area hospital were all adults.

"We're looking at a human trafficking crime here," McManus said.

Officials said the tractor-trailer may have been crammed with as many as 100 undocumented immigrants when it began its journey.

Officials also said the air conditioner to the trailer was not working, and that temperatures outside the big rig were over 100 degrees on Saturday.

Officials arrested James Matthew Bradley, 60 of Clearwater, Florida, who they believe was the driver of the tractor-trailer.

He is expected to be charged by federal prosecutors on Monday.

The deaths of the nine men resurrected haunting memories of May 2003, when 19 undocumented immigrants suffocated inside the back of a milk truck while being smuggled into the U.S.

Officials found their bodies inside the truck that had been abandoned at a rest stop in Victoria, Texas.

Fifty-five people survived the ordeal, and in 2006 Tyrone Williams, of Schenectady, New York, who drove the milk truck, was convicted on 58 counts of conspiracy plus counts of harboring, transporting and transporting resulting in death for each of the 19 victims, and sentenced to life in prison, the New York Times reported.

According to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center, more than 670 human trafficking cases were reported in Texas in 2016, and just within the last month four trucks have been seized smuggling undocumented immigrants from Mexico.

On July 7, a truck with 72 undocumented immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Ecuador.

“It’s a humanitarian crisis, and in my view murder, when you stuff people when it's 100 degrees or more in the back of a truck. Who knows how long they were in that truck. I’ve always said, I’ve said this for years, no one should have to die to come to America,” said Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick.

Image: Shutterstock

Follow Us On Facebook: Engage with your neighbors in the Metro Houston area and keep up with the talk of the day by liking one of our Facebook pages. Houston / Midtown Houston / Houston Heights / Galleria - River Oaks / Bellaire / Meyerland / Humble-Kingwood / Conroe-Montgomery County / Sugar Land / Pasadena / The Woodlands / Clear Lake