THE SQUIZ
“A migrant smuggling attempt gone wrong” is how authorities described yesterday’s discovery of an abandoned truck on a remote back road of San Antonio, Texas, with 46 dead and 16 dying adults and children. Authorities said the container had no air conditioning and there was no drinking water inside, and temperatures had reached 39.4C in the area where the truck was found. The survivors were said to be “hot to the touch” and suffering from heat stroke and exhaustion. San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said the victims had families “and were likely trying to find a better life. It’s nothing short of a horrific, human tragedy.” The victims were from Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras. And last night, the San Antonio Police Department said 3 people were in custody. 

THAT’S AWFUL…
It’s the worst case of migrant deaths due to smuggling in the US. And it’s not so long ago that 10 migrants died while trapped inside a truck found in a Walmart carpark in San Antonio – that was in 2017. It has also brought back memories of the grim discovery of 39 dead Vietnamese migrants in a truck trailer not far from the port in Essex, England, in October 2019. In that case, 9 men were convicted in the UK and 19 were jailed in Belgium. While Essex is an entry point for freight, San Antonio is about 250km from the border – but it’s the closest major city to a big border crossing between the US and Mexico.

SO PEOPLE SMUGGLING INTO THE US IS A PROBLEM?
Oh yeah – a big one. And like this issue is here in Oz, it’s political. After former US President Donald Trump pushed to ‘build the wall’, Joe Biden promised a more compassionate approach. That’s seen record numbers of hopeful migrants from Central American nations fleeing poverty and violence attempt to cross America’s southern border. But experts say a pandemic measure put in place by Trump and kept by Biden to head off “mass uncontrolled cross-border movement” has pushed migrants into taking big risks to get into the US. Migrant advocate Domingo Garcia says it’s seen people “being thrown into the hands of human smugglers and coyotes who are willing to risk the lives of others for a dollar”. Biden tried to rescind the measure known as Title 42 last month but has been blocked in court by Texas and other border states.