The Army detains 652 migrants hiding in three trucks

An Army and National Guard checkpoint on the Tamaulipas highway, in northern Mexico, found 652 migrants crammed into the refrigerated chambers of three trailers this Friday night. More than half, 355, were minors, in many cases unaccompanied, according to a statement from state authorities. The operation has resulted in the arrest of four alleged coyotes, human traffickers who work for organized crime. The findings in Mexico of large groups of migrants en route to the United States have been repeated in recent months in the heat of a strong flood of migratory flow.

The trucks were intercepted at the exit of the second urban center of Tamaulipas, Ciudad Victoria, heading north on the highway to Monterrey, the capital of Nuevo León. A journey in which kidnappings and violent episodes have occurred. After the three vehicles were stopped, the soldiers inspected the cameras of the trailers. Despite being sealed, they heard voices inside and ordered the drivers to open the containers, according to local press information.

All the migrants found in the trucks are of Central American origin, according to a statement from the authorities, who also reported that the trailers came from the city of Puebla, in the center of the country. The migrants were sent to the facilities of the State Secretary for Security in Ciudad Victoria, under the supervision of the National Institute of Migration and the Attorney General’s Office.

The migratory flow registers record figures so far this year. As of August, Mexico has counted more than 147,000 foreign nationals in an irregular situation, triple the number in 2020. On the other side of the border, the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) registered another record with 212 arrests until July. Findings of large groups trying to reach the border have also increased. This same week, a total of 103 Central American migrants, including 38 minors, were detained by agents of the National Migration Institute at a checkpoint in the southeastern state of Tabasco.

While more and more people, mainly from the Central American triangle —El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala— increase the numbers of the phenomenon, Mexico and the United States continue to negotiate joint actions. Washington has decided to promote a plan to invest up to 4,000 million in four years in the region, but at the same time it has warned that the financing is subject to the fight against corruption. Mexico, for its part, continues to lead a cooperation and development project sponsored by ECLAC, the UN economic body for Latin America, which already has a roadmap, but has only just begun to receive the necessary funding.

In addition to Central America, in recent months the migratory focus has also focused on the Haitian community. The government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador faced the latest emergency, a wave of Haitian migrants held in a camp under a bridge that links Texas and the State of Coahuila. The Joe Biden Administration has already begun the deportation of the nearly 15,000 people who managed to cross and who will be returned to other countries or will end up in Ciudad Acuña, a Mexican municipality that runs the risk of becoming another funnel as Tapachula already is. in Chiapas, a retaining wall for the caravans arriving from Central America.

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