A total of 275 migrants, including 67 minors, 45 of them unaccompanied, were found inside the box of a trailer that was abandoned on a highway in the Mexican state of Veracruz, in the east of the country, reported the National Institute of Migration (INM) this Wednesday.
In a statement, the INM, dependent on the Secretariat (ministry) of the Interior, pointed out that the migrants are from Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Cuba, El Salvador and Ecuador and that in the discovery, which occurred on the Córdoba-Puebla highway, Veracruz authorities also participated.
He specified that of the total number of migrants found in the cargo vehicle, 29 are from Honduras (9 women and 13 adult men, 5 accompanied minors and 2 unaccompanied minors); 191 from Guatemala (25 women and 114 adult men, 9 accompanied minors and 43 unaccompanied minors); 19 from Nicaragua (6 women and 11 adult men and 2 accompanied minors).
In addition, 16 are from Cuba (8 women and 7 adult men, one accompanied minor); 2 from El Salvador (an adult woman and an accompanied minor), as well as 18 from Ecuador (6 women and 8 adult men, and 4 accompanied minors).
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The INM pointed out that, by not accrediting their regular stay in Mexican territory, the migrants were transferred to the institute’s facilities in the state of Veracruz to carry out the corresponding immigration procedures.
While those who traveled in family nuclei were under the guardianship of the System for the Integral Development of the Family (DIF) in the state.
On Tuesday, 310 migrants were found when they were traveling overcrowded and with symptoms of severe dehydration in the box of a trailer that was traveling through the state of Veracruz, state authorities reported.
Traveling crammed into trailers is one of the most dangerous ways migrants use to clandestinely cross Mexico on their way to the United States, something for which they pay traffickers thousands of dollars.
@INAMI_mx identified that the 275 migrants rescued yesterday inside the box of a trailer on the Córdoba-Puebla highway -with the support of Veracruz authorities- are from Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Cuba, El Salvador and Ecuador. https://t.co/6dWauDiTA2 pic.twitter.com/BZ1mjQ4b5B
— INM (@INAMI_mx) May 5, 2022
Under this modality, a tragic accident was recorded on December 9, 2021, when a trailer overturned on the highway from Tuxtla Gutiérrez to Chiapa de Corzo, in the state of Chiapas, in which 56 migrants died.
More than 160 foreigners were traveling hidden in the vehicle, most of them from Guatemala, the Dominican Republic and El Salvador.
Mexico deported more than 114,000 foreigners in 2021, according to data from the Migration Policy Unit of the country’s Ministry of the Interior.
Mexico’s INM recently reported that between January 1 and April 13 of this year it intercepted 115,379 migrants, of which 15% were minors, mainly from Central American nations.
While in fiscal year 2022, which began on October 1, 2021, 1,060,094 migrant encounters have already been recorded on the southern US border, according to data from the Customs and Border Protection Office (CBP).
