Three years ago to the day after53 immigrants diedwhile trapped in a tractor-trailer in sweltering Texas heat,two of the smugglers responsiblelearned that their freedom is effectively over. A federal judgesentencedFelipe Orduña-Torres two to life sentences and Armando Gonzales-Ortega to 83 years in prison on Friday, June 27 − the third anniversary of the tragedy in San Antonio,the deadliest known migrant smuggling attempt in U.S. history. "These individuals are effectively going away for the rest of their lives," and that is justice, Justin Simmons, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas, said at a news conference after the sentencing. "While the sentences today will never completely fill the void that these men carved into the hearts of these victims' families, I hope it at least helps them a little bit with the healing process," Simmons said. "I hope they can find solace, ultimately, in the fact that these men will never breathe free air again." Defense attorneys for Orduña-Torres and Gonzales-Ortega did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday. They unsuccessfully argued in March that the case should be thrown out, saying that no forensic evidence placed the men at the scene of the tragedy and no reliable witnesses positively identified them as being responsible. There were 64 immigrants from Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico packed into the tractor-trailer in Laredo, Texas, after arriving from various stash houses. They included eight children and a pregnant woman, according to court records. As smugglers made a three-hour journey from Laredo to San Antonio, temperatures outside soared past 100 degrees, the heat inside became unbearable and "chaos ensued," according to the indictment in the case. "Some aliens screamed and banged on the walls for help," the indictment said. "Some passed out, unconscious. Others clawed at the sides of the trailer attempting to escape. When the doors to the trailer were opened, 48 of the aliens were either already dead or died on site." Five more later died at nearby hospitals, and the smugglers involved either fled or hid. The death toll makes the tragedy "the deadliest human smuggling operation in U.S. history," said Craig Larrabee, special agent in charge for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations in San Antonio. The devastated family members of the victims watched Friday's sentencing via video from Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico. Many wrote letters about how the deaths of their loved ones impacted them, and those were read out loud in the courtroom. "You could hear that pain in the letters," Simmons said, saying the impact to the families is immeasurable. "My prayers for them are for fond memories and hopefully some degree of healing, though those wounds will never be completely healed." The men charged in the case as smugglers ran their operation between November 2021 through June 2022, prosecutors said. Federal prosecutors identified Orduna-Torres as a leader and organizer and Gonzales-Ortega as a coordinator. They "worked in concert to transport and facilitate the transportation of the migrants, sharing routes, guides, stash houses, trucks, trailers, and transporters in order to consolidate costs, minimize risks, and maximize profit," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas. Prosecutors said that some of the smugglers, including Orduna-Torres, knew that the trailer's refrigeration unit was not working but allowed the dangerous journey to proceed. The migrants had paid roughly $12,000 a person to make it to the U.S. safety. That adds up to $768,000 for just that one operation, but authorities estimate their smuggling ring netted at least $13,000 in less than a year. "My message to those who are south of the border and may be considering coming across in a manner similar to this: Cartels do not care about you," Simmons said. "They do not care about your hopes and dreams. They do not care about your desire for a better life. They care about money." Riley Covarrubias-Ponce, 32, is scheduled for sentencing on Nov. 6 Luis Alberto Rivera-Leal, 39, is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 13 Christian Martinez, 31, is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 20 Homero Zamorano Jr., 48, and Juan Francisco D'Luna Bilbao, 51, are scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 4. All of them have pleaded guilty to their involvement in the smuggling operation except for Rigoberto Ramon Miranda-Orozco, 48, who is set for trial on Sept. 29. The tragedy is one of several similar incidents of mass death among migrants who put their lives into the hands of callous smugglers to make it to the U.S. In 2017 in San Antonio,10 immigrants diedafter being trapped in a truck parked outside of a Walmart. In 2003,19 migrants diedafter being trapped in a truck just southeast of San Antonio. Amanda Lee Myers is a senior crime reporter for USA TODAY. Follow her on X at @amandaleeusat. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Two sentenced in deadliest human smuggling operation in US history