Woman at vigil for migrants found dead in truck: ''How many more?' is my question'

The outside of the offices of immigrant advocacy group FIEL Houston at 6610 Harwin was the site of a vigil on Tuesday for the dozens of people who were found dead inside a tractor-trailer a few miles from San Antonio, Houston CBS affiliate KHOU reported.

Authorities initially tallied the death toll at 46 on Monday, but Bexar County and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raised the figure to 51 a day later, per KHOU’s sister station, San Antonio CBS affiliate KENS.

One of the attendees at the vigil was Marta Olivera, who still remembers a smuggling incident in South Texas nearly 20 years ago in which 19 people lost their lives, KHOU reported.

"I cannot believe this has happened again," Olivera, who heads down to the area every May to observe the grim anniversary of the incident, told the station. "'How many more?' is my question."

According to KHOU, Olivera and the attendees held 51 signs for the victims.

KENS and The Associated Press (AP) reported that the fatalities were mostly male.

Citing KENS, Austin Journal reported that San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg labelled the discovery a “horrific human tragedy.”

San Antonio Police Department (SAPD) Chief William McManus told Austin NBC affiliate KXAN that the incident yielded the “largest death toll due to human smuggling South Texas’ largest city has ever seen,” according to the publication.

At least a dozen people were taken to local hospitals, per the report.

Immigration attorney Mana Yegani told KHOU that a lack of a pathway toward legal immigration prompts situations just like what the migrants who perished in the truck were in.

“For Mexicans, right now, U.S. immigration officials are processing cases that were filed in 1998," Yegani said, the station reported.

The attorney added that Monday’s events must serve as a wakeup call to both sides of the aisle, according to KHOU.