Employees at a police impound lot found 229 migrants who had been stashed in a trailer by human smugglers trying to move them through Mexico on their way to the U.S. border. The trailer had been seized by police earlier in the day after having been reported stolen.
The incident occurred on Monday afternoon in the coastal state of Veracruz, when authorities spotted a tractor-trailer that had been reported stolen. According to information released by the Veracruz Public Safety Director, Jose Manuel Pozos Castro, authorities arrested the driver and moved the trailer to a police impound lot in the city of Xalapa.
It was there that employees at the impound lot heard screaming coming from inside the trailer and alerted authorities. State police officers opened the trailer and found a large number of migrants who were in various states of dehydration due to the heat inside the trailer.
The state police officers alerted emergency medical personnel, who began treating the migrants, while members of Mexico’s National Migration Institute arrived to process the group and determine their status. In total, authorities found 229 migrants, including 17 who were underage.
The case comes at a time when Mexican authorities have been forced to crack down on human smuggling groups due to pressure from the U.S. government. While in the past, Mexico’s government allowed migrants to move freely through the country on their way north, in recent months, Mexican immigration authorities have begun limiting the number of travel documents issued at its southern border. This move has made it more difficult for human smuggling organizations to operate within the country.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].
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