Innocent trucker whose license plate was stolen by human smugglers who left 50 to die is being targeted by people who wrongly believe he is responsible for the tragedy

• The truck containing 50 dead migrants abandoned on the San Antonio roadside stole its license plate and registration from a truck hauling grain in Alamo 
• Isaac Limon, the son-in-law of the man whose information was stolen, said he wanted to clear his name after Telemundo identified his company on Monday
• Limon said his father-in-law was shaken up by the incident because people now falsely believe his vehicle was involved in the horrible tragedy 
•  Fire department chief said the trailer was refrigerated, but that the air conditioning was not functioning amid 103 degree weather
• Three people were taken into custody, though police are yet to establish whether they are 'absolutely connected to this or not'

The family of a Texas man said he was wrongfully identified as the owner of the truck used by human smugglers who left 50 migrants to die inside the vehicle in 103 degree weather along the U.S.-Mexico border. 

A San Antonio Fire Department official said they found 'stacks of bodies' and no signs of water in the truck, which was discovered on Monday next to railroad tracks in the city's southern outskirts, close to Interstate 35 which runs to the border. 

The truck's license plate and registration linked the vehicle to an Alamo man, but his son-in-law, Isaac Limon, said the information was stolen and that the real truck belonging to his family was out hauling grain in another part of Texas. 

'It was a perfect setup,' Limon told the Washington Post. 'The truck is here. I'm looking at it right now. 

'Sad to say, but he's a bit of a victim, too, because people believe it was him.' 

Limon told the Post that the plates and registration identified in the tragedy belong to his father-in-law's Volvo, and was outraged over Telemundo's reporting that suggested his truck was used in the crime. 

'[I] just want to help clear my Father-In-Law’s name,' Limon wrote on Facebook after the news broke. 'He is not the owner of the truck in San Antonio that is involved in this tragic event. 

'His DOT Number was illegally copied onto the truck... Telemundo did not verify the facts before airing the story.' 

In their coverage on Monday night, Telemundo had linked the truck to the father-in-law's Trucking & Harvesting company. 

Telemundo did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment.  

Limon said that his father-in-law has been left 'shaken' by the misreporting. 

The truck was found abandoned by auto salvage yards and railroad tracks around 6:00pm yesterday by an individual who worked nearby. 

Sixteen survivors, including four children, were rushed to nearby hospitals for heat stroke and exhaustion. They were found by a local worker, who investigated the scene after hearing a faint cry for help emanating from the truck.

No children were among the dead, according to officials. 

Texas has been experiencing a near-record heat wave, while temperatures in San Antonio, which is about 160 miles from the Mexican border, swelled to a high of 103F on Monday with high humidity. 

'The patients that we saw were hot to the touch. They were suffering from heat stroke and exhaustion,' fire chief Charles Hood said in a press briefing.

'[There were] no signs of water in the vehicle. It was a refrigerated trailer, but there was no visible working AC unit on that rig.'

Police Chief William McManus said three individuals were taken into custody, but that it had not been established whether they were 'absolutely connected to this or not.' 

The nationalities of the victims have not yet been confirmed, but they are all believed to be immigrants attempting to cross illegally into the U.S.

Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard dispatched Consul General Ruben Minutti to the scene yesterday evening, while the Mexican consulate in San Antonio said it would provide 'all the support' to the families of Mexican citizens if they are among the dead.

A spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said that its Homeland Security Investigations division was investigating 'an alleged human smuggling event' in coordination with local police. 

Chief McManus said the individual 'heard a cry for help and came out to investigate', before finding the trailer's doors partially opened upon arrival and discovering dozens of bodies.

McManus said he could not confirm whether all the victims had remained in the trailer and said searches to find any survivors that may have escaped were ongoing.

'We had our canines out there going through the woods and we may have to do that again tomorrow in the light of day,' he said. 

San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said the 46 who died had 'families who were likely trying to find a better life'.

'The plight of migrants seeking refuge is always a humanitarian crisis,' said Nirenberg.

'But tonight we are dealing with a horrific human tragedy.' 

Locals said that the location where the truck was found was a known drop-off point for migrants, according to The New York Times.

'You can tell they just got here. We see them with backpacks or asking for food or money,' Ruby Chavez, 53, told The New York Times. 

'They know this area. They jump off the train and get picked up,' Chavez's husband said. 

The I-35 highway near where the truck was found runs through San Antonio from the Mexican border and is a popular smuggling corridor because of the large volume of truck traffic, according to Jack Staton, a former senior official with ICE's investigative unit who retired in December. 

Staton said migrants have regularly been intercepted in the area since the 2017 incident. 

'It was only a matter of time before a tragedy like this was going to happen again,' he said.

Yesterday's deaths highlight the challenge of controlling migrant crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border, which have reached record highs.

The issue has proven difficult for U.S. President Joe Biden, who has pledged to reverse some of the hard-line immigration policies of his Republican predecessor Donald Trump.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott hit out at the President following the deaths, blaming the deadly incident on the Biden administration's lax approach to border control - a key issue for the upcoming November elections.

The deaths 'are the result of his deadly open border policies,' Abbott wrote. 'They show the deadly consequences of his refusal to enforce the law.'

Yesterday's tragic incident may be one of the deadliest when it comes to illegal smuggling of people across the southern US border.

Ten migrants died in 2017 after being trapped inside a truck that was parked at a Walmart in San Antonio. In 2003, 19 migrants were found in a sweltering truck southeast of San Antonio.

Big rigs emerged as a popular smuggling method in the early 1990s amid a surge in U.S. border enforcement in San Diego and El Paso, Texas, which were then the busiest corridors for illegal crossings.

Prior to that, people paid small fees to mom-and-pop operators to get them across a largely unguarded border. 

As crossings became exponentially more difficult after the 2001 terror attacks in the U.S., migrants were led through more dangerous terrain and paid thousands of dollars more to smugglers.

Heat poses a serious danger, and temperatures can rise severely inside vehicles.