‘They had their dreams’: the families devastated by Texas truck deaths

Relatives tell of loss as experts says harsher laws are forcing people to take ever more dangerous routes into US

Before he left Veracruz, Pablo Ortega asked his sister Rosa to do two things: look after his pregnant wife, and, should anything happen to him on his way to the US, make sure his body was brought home so it could be carried through the streets where he grew up. This week, Rosa found herself having to fulfil both duties to her little brother.

At 6.20pm on 27 June, an abandoned trailer was discovered on a remote backroad in San Antonio, Texas. Inside were the bodies of dozens of people who had died as they tried to migrate from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Among them was Pablo, 20, whose body was found alongside that of his 43-year-old uncle, Jesus Alvarez. In total, 53 people died and more than a dozen were taken to hospital, including four children. Four people have been charged.