Mexico Finds 491 Migrants, Including 277 Minors, in Vacant Lot

As more migrants from Central and South America head to the US-Mexico border, Mexico's immigration agency stated that authorities rescued 491 migrants who were being held at a compound near Mexico City. The majority of them were Guatemalan migrants.

The compound was on an empty lot by the side of a highway east of the Mexican capital. Of those rescued, almost all were Guatemalan migrants. Only six of them came from Honduras.

According to the Associated Press, among those migrants being held were 277 children and adolescents. While most of these minors were traveling with adult relatives, the Mexican immigration agency stated that 52 of them were unaccompanied minors.

The migrants were found being held in a walled compound near the city of Puebla. It was a route that is often used by migrant smugglers to take people across the US-Mexico border.

It is a common practice among human smugglers to hold migrants in compounds like these before taking them across the border. They are often stuffed inside buses, trains, and trucks, often being subjected to extreme heat as they try to make it to the United States.

Honduran and Guatemalan Migrants Transferred to the National Immigration Institute of Mexico

After they were found, the Honduran and Guatemalan migrants were then taken to the offices of the National Immigration Institute. The immigration agency released a statement to CBS News, admitting that they now have the mostly-Guatemalan migrants, including the hundreds of minors who were found with them, in their custody.

"They were transferred to headquarters of the National Institute of Migration to provide them with water, food, and medical attention," said Mexico's National Institute of Migration.

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The immigrants likely paid thousands of dollars to human smugglers just to take them across the border to the US. Many cross over in the hope of a better life or are just trying to escape the ongoing violence in their homes.

Migrants Face Danger as They Travel From Mexico to the US

Migrants travel thousands of miles from their home countries to reach the US-Mexico border. Many of these migrants brave river crossings, rebel or gang-controlled areas, and the treacherous Darrien Gap to even make it to Mexico.

However, they often face dangers once they arrive, from being kidnapped by drug cartels to dying in deadly bus crashes. The migrants being found at the empty lot happened just a few days after several other migrants died in a fatal bus crash while traveling to the border city of Tijuana.

According to ABC News, 18 people were killed in that crash, with nearly two dozen injured, It happened in Nayarit state, and the bus was heading to Tijuana. Among the dead were 10 men, five women, and three minors.

The Mexican government did not release their identities, but the National Immigration Institute stated that one of those who died was from Mauritius.

Among the injured are two Indian citizens, another one from Mauritius, and a man from the Dominican Republic.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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