800 Migrants Found Inside Six Containers in Mexico

Press media highlighted on Friday that around 800 migrants, mostly Hondurans, Salvadorans and Guatemalans, were found on Thursday night by personnel of the National Migration Institute (INM) and the National Defense Secretariat (Sedena) in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas (northwest, bordering the United States).

The migrants, among them minors, were traveling inside six refrigerated containers.

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They were transported in three trucks that were stopped for inspection at 22:00 local time at a Sedena checkpoint at kilometer 52 of the Victoria-Monterrey highway, about six hours from the Texas border.

After parking the vehicles, the drivers fled, so INM and Sedena personnel proceeded to open the containers.

The migrants were secured and attended to by personnel from the INM, Sedena, the National Guard and the Tamaulipas Public Security Secretariat.

They were subsequently transferred to the state capital, Ciudad Victoria. In order for them to account for their immigration status, they were asked to corroborate their legal stay in Mexican territory with documentation.

Local media estimate that this is perhaps the operation that has rescued the largest number of migrants from illegal trafficking networks in recent times.

The issue of immigration is on the agenda of the high-level meeting between Mexico and the U.S., which will take place this Friday in Mexico City.