By Marlyn Montilla
Aug 28, 2023, 12:34 PM EDT
A total of 125 migrants, all of them from Central America, including five unaccompanied minors, were found in eight vans that were traveling in a caravan on a highway that connects the states of Puebla and Oaxaca, central and southern Mexico, respectively, The National Institute of Migration (INM) reported on Sunday.
In a statement, the INM, under the Ministry of the Interior (Ministry of the Interior), said that in inter-institutional coordination, it detected 125 foreigners who “were illegally transported in eight passenger vans” traveling in a caravan along the Cuacnopalan highway. -Oaxaca.
Upon detecting the caravan of vehicles, INM agents asked the drivers to stop their march in San Pablo Huitzo, in the direction of the city of Oaxaca, capital of the state of the same name.
After completing the inspection of the vehicles, the 125 migrants from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador were located, who could not prove their regular stay in Mexican territory.
In addition, in the action, the INM said, five unaccompanied minors (three girls and two boys) were identified, as well as 54 members of various family nuclei and 66 single adults (39 women and 27 men).
After offering them food, water and medical assistance, the adults were taken to immigration facilities, while the families and unaccompanied minors were sent to a shelter of the National System for the Integral Development of the Family (DIF).
Meanwhile, three drivers and the eight trucks were made available to the authorities.
Traveling crammed into different vehicles is one of the most dangerous ways migrants use to clandestinely cross Mexico, heading to the United States, clandestine trips for which they pay thousands of dollars to traffickers.
On that same highway, just on August 22, 16 people died and 36 were injured after the crash of a bus carrying migrants, the dead were 15 Mexicans and one Venezuelan.
Last week, the INM found 129 migrants from Egypt and 8 from Mauritania who were abandoned on a bus in Veracruz, the eastern state of the country.
The phenomenon reflects the unprecedented migratory flow in the region, with more than 2.76 million undocumented immigrants intercepted by the United States at the border with Mexico during fiscal year 2022.
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