In Mexico, 652 people were arrested in cold stores. The corresponding semitrailers of the articulated lorries were intercepted just a few kilometers from the border with the USA.
Hidalgo – Mexican soldiers discovered a total of 652 Central American migrants in sealed refrigerated chambers in the trailers of three articulated trucks. Among them were 349 minors, 198 of them unaccompanied, as Mexico’s immigration authority INM announced on Friday.
Around 87 percent of people come from Mexico’s southern neighbor, Guatemala. The migrants lacked air, food and water in the trailers, it said. They were allegedly victims of people smugglers and have now been handed over to the security forces of the state of Tamaulipas.
The articulated trucks were reportedly stopped on Thursday evening (local time) at a military checkpoint in the municipality of Hidalgo in northeast Mexico, a good 300 kilometers from the US border. Tamaulipas security forces said four people were arrested.
The number of people caught illegally entering the United States on the border with Mexico has risen sharply this year – more than 200,000 in July and August each. There are many unaccompanied children.
Most of the migrants come from Mexico or from one of the Central American countries Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. There is a lot of poverty, violence and corruption there. Added to this are the consequences of droughts and natural disasters. Many people from other crisis countries in the region, such as Haiti, Cuba and Venezuela, recently dared the long, dangerous journey through Mexico. Many migrants do not even reach the US border, but are held up by Mexican soldiers and sent back. dpa
