A tractor trailer carrying at least 359 migrants from Central America to the United States was found jammed on the highway of Veracruz, a state in southern Mexico.
This shocking discovery happened Sunday morning at around 3:00 a.m. local time when Federal Immigration Agents pulled over the driver on road connecting the towns of connecting Coatzacoalcos and Veracruz before they proceeded to inspect the freight container, the National Institute of Migration said in a statement.
Agents heard voices from the trailer and opened the doors to find the migrants sitting on the sides of the box. Other people were sleeping in the same spot across the floor.
Mexican immigration agents discovered 359 Central American and South American migrants being smuggled into a tractor trailer on Sunday in Veracruz, the state’s southeast. The agents were manning a checkpoint on a highway connecting the municipalities of Coatzacoalcos and Veracruz before they proceeded to inspect the freight container. Both the driver and migrants were placed in police custody.
Three hundred and ninety-nine migrants headed for the United States were discovered hiding under a truck that was going down Veracruz’s highway, Mexico on Sunday at 3:30 AM local time.
National Institute of Migration stated that there were 294 Guatemalan migrants inside the truck. Rest of the group included 38 Nicaraguans and 15 Salvadorans, as well as eight Hondurans. Four Ecuadorians were included in the group.
The National Institute of Migration reported that 294 of these migrants were Guatemalan natives. The rest of the group consisted of 38 Nicaraguans, 15 Salvadorans and eight Hondurans. Four Ecuadorians were included in the group.
The driver was placed under arrest by the local Office of the Attorney General.
They were not in urgent medical need and were kept at the National Institute of Migration to be processed. Their fate is uncertain. If they are deported back to Mexico, or offered humanitarian visas for Mexico as a refuge, it’s unclear.
“The (National Institute of Migration), endorses it commitment to safe and orderly migration with full respect for and safeguarding people’s rights in the context of mobility,” the agency stated in a statement.
Many migrants pay smugglers for transporting them through Mexico in trucks or buses to get to the US. Because many of these trips are dangerous because smugglers frequently pack many people in cargo compartments, they can make them very unsafe.
After the truck carrying it pulled over in Veracruz (Mexico), on Sunday, immigration agents instructed migrants to stay on the roof of the freight container.
The door to a tractor trailer was opened by immigration agents when 359 migrants were stopped in Veracruz (Mexico) on Sunday.
It was nearly identical in size to the truck pulled over Sunday in the south state of Chiapas. The tractor trailer was also involved in a fatal crash on December 9th. 56 migrants were killed and 104 injured in the accident.
Last Tuesday’s scare saw more than 170 Central Americans survive a collision with the smaller truck their smuggler was driving in Veracruz. The accident resulted in 38 migrants being rescued by authorities, while others fled to safety.
Recently released data from Mexico shows that more than 252,000 illegal migrants were deported to the country in between November 2021 and January 2021. In the same time frame, more than 100,000 people were deported.
In 2021, the Mexican Commission for Aid to Refugees was able to receive 31,488 asylum petitions.