103 unaccompanied minors found in abandoned trailer in Mexico, govt says
Mexican authorities found 103 unaccompanied minors mostly from Guatemala inside an abandoned truck trailer in the eastern Mexican state of Veracruz, the government said on Monday, in one of the biggest recent discoveries of migrant children travelling through Mexico.
In addition to the 103 children, 212 adults from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Ecuador, along with 28 family members from Guatemala and El Salvador, were found in the trailer, the National Migration Institute said in a statement.
Authorities discovered the trailer on a highway without a driver, INM said. It was outfitted with fans, a partially ventilated roof and a structure that created a second level inside the trailer.
A photo that INM distributed showed plastic bottles and other trash strewn across the floor of the long, narrow compartment.
The children will be put into the custody of Veracruz's family services system while the other migrants will be processed to determine their legal status in Mexico, INM said.
Earlier this year, Mexican authorities found 57 unaccompanied minors from Guatemala at a checkpoint near the U.S.-Mexico border, and 20 other unaccompanied minors in a group of mostly Central Americans in the southern state of Chiapas.
Reuters
Related News
Ancient Maya cities, 'super highways' revealed in latest survey
Biden visits US-Mexico border as immigration issue heats up
Mexico arrests Ovidio Guzman, son of 'El Chapo,' city engulfed by violence
