More than 3,200 undocumented migrants from 50 countries were located in Mexico in different operations carried out in a single day in 20 districts of the countryauthorities reported this Saturday.
On Thursday, September 22, “3,263 migrants were rescued in one day (…) thus preventing their lives from being in danger as they irregularly passed through Mexican territory,” detailed the Migration’s national institute (INM).
The authorities pointed out that among these people without the required documentation there are 377 minors and 777 women.
The largest group comes from Venezuela (1,259), followed by Guatemala (616), Nicaragua (364), Colombia (228), Honduras (192), and Peru (129), among other Latin American countries. There are also citizens from other regions, especially from Eastern Europe and Africa.
Many of the rescued migrants are returned to their countries, while others initiate asylum claims and in some cases are able to obtain safe-conducts with a deadline to leave Mexico.
In Chiapasbordering Guatemala and the gateway to the bulk of the irregular migratory flow that enters Mexico, was located more than a half of undocumented foreigners.
Every year, thousands of migrants from various countries seek to reach the United States fleeing poverty and violence. On his way through Mexico are often victims of extortion by Mexican authorities, but also by criminal gangs.
The number of people trying to cross into the United States from Mexico increased with the arrival of Democrat Joe Biden to the White House in January 2021.
Mexico has reinforced its military operations to combat the irregular migratory flow. This has led undocumented immigrants to resort to increasingly dangerous means to travel through Mexico, such as traveling in overcrowded trucks.
On December 9, 2021, a trailer carrying some 160 migrants collided with a pedestrian bridge on a highway in Chiapas, leaving 56 dead.
On June 27, the bodies of 53 migrants, the vast majority of them Mexican, were found in the bed of a truck in the city of San Antonio, Texas.
Since 2014, some 6,430 migrants have died or disappeared en route to the United States, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and 850 perished in accidents or due to traveling in subhuman conditions.