Volunteers repair a memorial to 53 people who died in November 2022 while being smuggled into the United States. The memorial was found vandalized on Saturday, March 22, 2025.
A roadside memorial paying tribute to 53 migrants who human smugglers left to die in a scorching shipping container near San Antonio was vandalized over the weekend.
On Saturday morning, Angelina Olvera, who has been taking care of the memorial since it was first erected after the 2022 tragedy, found it destroyed. The memorial, comprised of 53 crosses, was first erected after the tragedy.
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WATCH HEREUpon inspection of the site, San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg called it an act of hate against the families of the deceased.
With the nature of the vandalism, the local district attorney said his office intends to prosecute the attack as a hate crime.
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The San Antonio Police Department said the suspects responsible will be charged with criminal mischief and could be assessed a fine of anywhere from $2,500 to $30,000.
The memorial pays respect to the deadliest human smuggling disaster in modern U.S. history.
The original incident occurred on June 27, 2022, when Homeland Security officers opened a seemingly abandoned shipping container to find 48 deceased migrants from Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala, who died as a result of the heat inside the container. Five more migrants later succumbed to their injuries.
Just last week, the two men connected to the smuggling were found guilty and both face life in prison.
This is not the first time the memorial has been vandalized. It was partially burned in November 2022.
