Guatemalan nationals plead guilty to horrific human smuggling crash that killed 56, injured over 100

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed to Fox News Digital on Wednesday that two Guatemalan nationals have pleaded guilty of their roles in a massive human smuggling operation that resulted in a catastrophic 2021 tractor-trailer crash in Mexico, which killed 56 people — including children — 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 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.

Federal officials pointed to the crash as a tragic consequence of previous open border policies. 

“This is yet another example of how Biden’s open borders created a humanitarian crisis that allowed smugglers to profit off the deaths of illegal aliens,” DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis told Fox News Digital. “Thanks to the hard work of the men and women of ICE, these criminal aliens have pleaded guilty, and they will soon face justice.”

According to prosecutors, the Dec. 9, 2021, crash involved a highly organized, profit-driven network that treated human beings “like a supply chain.”

The smugglers recruited migrants in Guatemala, collected their money, and packed them into cattle trucks and tractor-trailers for the treacherous journey north toward the US border. 

The fatal wreck happened just north of the Guatemala-Mexico border.

“This tragic event shows that human smugglers do not care about the illegal aliens they come in contact with and transport despite the numerous risks, including extreme heat and dangerous travel conditions,” Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division wrote in a statement.

Acting U.S. Attorney John G.E. Marck for the Southern District of Texas highlighted the cold and calculated nature of the operation, revealing the smuggling network even “handed scripts to children so they could lie to law enforcement if caught entering the United States.”

The successful prosecution was spearheaded by Joint Task Force Alpha, a specialized partnership between the Justice Department and DHS aimed at dismantling cartels and transnational criminal organizations. 

To date, the task force’s efforts to combat the border crisis have resulted in more than 458 arrests and over 408 US convictions of leaders and significant facilitators of illegal immigrant smuggling.