The Honduran man said he had been a foot guide for around three months, guiding groups of migrants across Mexico.
EAGLE PASS, Texas — Editor’s note: The photo and video above are from Friday’s incident in Knippa.
A man from Mexico was found dead in a train boxcar in Eagle Pass on Saturday, the second such incident on a Union Pacific train in Texas recently. Now a man has been arrested after Homeland Security launched a human smuggling investigation.
11 other people were found in the box car, and authorities said they were from Ecuador, Mexico, Honduras and Colombia. On Friday, 17 migrants were found on a train near Knippa, and two had died. That train was heading east from Eagle Pass to San Antonio. In both cases, somebody inside the train car reportedly called 911 for help.
“At about 4:30 p.m. on March 25, 2023, Union Pacific was notified by the U.S. Border Patrol that they had found 12 people in a Union Pacific boxcar located in our railyard in Eagle Pass, Texas,” a company spokesperson said. “One person died, three were taken to the local hospital and eight were detained. The U.S. Border Patrol searched and found the people after one of the individuals in the car called 911 emergency number. The incident is under investigation.”
On Monday, Denniso Carranza Gonzales, a Honduran National, was arrested for “conspiracy to transport illegal aliens resulting in death.” He admitted to being a foot guide for the 12 migrants, saying he had been a guide for about three months, guiding groups from Piedras, Negras, Cahuila, Mexico across the river into Eagle Pass.
The groups would be guided to railroad tracks and from there they would ride the trains to San Antonio. Gonzales said he guided groups as a way to pay for his own smuggling costs.
Gonzales told officials that after the doors were closed on the railroad car, people began to get worried and looked to him for guidance since he was responsible for him, according to the affidavit. He advised them to “remain calm and breathe deep and that once they reached San Antonio, the doors would open again and everyone would be safe.”
However further in that trip it became very hot inside the car and it was getting harder to breathe, said the affidavit. Gonzales said he tried to call the man who had closed the box, so he could open the door to let air in, but he did not answer. That is when Gonzales told everyone to start calling 9-1-1 for help.
Gonzales said he was not aware that anyone had perished.
“Union Pacific is deeply saddened by this incident and Friday’s incident near Knippa. Our commitment to safety and to guarding human life is central to who we are as a company and as people. These incidents stand as a grim reminder of why we make every effort to stop people from trespassing on our property and on our trains.”
In June of 2022, 53 migrants were found dead in a hot tractor trailer in San Antonio.
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