Good question, Jack. Immigration is such a complex issue, both in legal terms and in moral terms. It has become a major point of debate in our presidential election. Here in South Texas, we see the issue firsthand. I covered a story about eight months ago that involved illegal immigrants running from law enforcement in town, jumping into the Guadalupe to avoid being caught and drowning.
And you're right: they broke our laws by coming here illegally in the first place. That mix of legal and moral dilemmas make it a tricky subject. How do you feel, in general, about the immigrant tragedy here in Victoria County in 2003?

"Like so many others, this group illegally entered the country in seek of a better life."

This above quote is my problem with the whole issue. 

They broke the laws. 

Prosecutors want to punish the smugglers, how about charging those who entered this country illegally?
Were Marco Antonio's parents ever charged with anything?  At minimum, endangering the welfare of a child, or manslaughter? 

How is it, one illegal act to better one's life can be judged differently than another?

Is that going to be the standard defence for everyone?  "I was just selling drugs to make a better life for me and my family."

"I just broke into your house because you have more than me and I need to provide a better life for my family."

Where does it end?

the americans didn't kill these people their own did. the cyyotes who profit from this type of trade. even again not to long ago the news spoke of a an illegal women who put up her son as colaterol on debt to smuggle her daughter across as well. she didn't pay up so they took her son and enslaved him in seguin. the americans rescued him. there is a legal safe way to immigration. if imigrants would stop doing a dance with the devil prostituting their children etc. then these humans, these precious lives would still be here.
why are these paying with their lives. can't they get work visa's etc. to come into our country safely and in a less costly way? why are they sneaking across anyway? their own people are taking advantage of them, ... killing them. not the evil americans

i tend to agree with previous comments here. There is nothing to be gained by revisiting this tragedy in detail. After months of media reporting and, as you indicate, a book, not to mention the trials and penalties phase being completed, what could you add? After so much retelling of the same story, it begins to smack of crass commercialism. Print for profit motive or morbid curiosity or both would be the only reasons to carbon copy this tragic event five years later. 
Write a nice memorial to the victims and let them rest in peace.

I apologize for replying late. I'm attending a newspaper conference in Houston.
There's an important distinction here. The tragedy in south Victoria County was the worst single accident leading to the deaths of illegal, or undocumented, immigrants on U.S. soil.
That's according to -- for starters -- the Associated Press and the book, "Dying To Cross: The Worst Immigrant Tragedy in American History." (Jorge Ramos, published in 2005).
From everything I've read, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911 in New York City, while tragic, killed immigrant women -- not illegal immigrants. Many of them were young women. But they weren't illegal immigrants, I've found.
In 1911, in fact, 5,735,811 immigrants arrived in the U.S. It wasn't until 1921 -- 10 years after the New York City fire -- that the Emergency Quota Act restricted immigration from a country to 3 percent of the number of people from that country living in the US in 1910. This is according to a Harvard collection of notable immigration dates.
If you can point me to information that says the women in the New York City fire were illegal, please do so, however. And thanks for responding to the blog.

Thanx, bighorn. You are correct that this event has been covered ad nauseum, and I daresay there probably isn't much more information of real value to add to this story than what has been reported (over and over) already. I thought this was laid to rest a long time ago. I guess there are some that just want to keep stirring the pot.

Nice correction, Mags. I have heard way too much about the events of that morning/evening in the past few years. Why not give it a rest? How about some coverage of positive events in this area, rather than an old, over written story told time and time again....

Gabe - with all due respect, sir, you are quite wrong in saying that
Never before had so many illegal immigrants died in one tragedy on American soil.

Remember (as a manner of speaking; I know you are far too young, as am I) the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911 in New York City? This fire killed 148 people, many of them immigrants, mostly illegal, and mostly women. Please correct this unfounded statement, as it is simply not true....or does the 1911 tragedy not count since most of the immigrants were of Italian origin? I am sure there are also other examples of greater tragedies than the one you speak of.