Mexico detains almost 6,000 foreign migrants in four days

By: 3 years ago

Members of the Mexican National Guard stand guard at a military checkpoint, as part of a security operation to reduce violence and the influx of migrants crossing towards the U.S., in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico April 22, 2022. REUTERS

MEXICO CITY — Mexico detained almost 6,000 foreign migrants in a four-day span, the country’s National Migration Institute (INM) said on Monday.

The majority of the 5,688 migrants detained from April 21 to 24 were found in safe houses, trailers, or hidden in bus compartments or truck cabins, the INM said in a statement.

By far the largest group by nationality detained over the weekend were Hondurans, with 1,060 detained, followed by 942 Cubans and 906 Guatemalans.

In total, migrants from 42 countries were put into custody, according to the statement.

Other groups were found walking through the desert or along highways as they tried to make their way to the U.S.-Mexico border.

Mexican immigration authorities have detained 115,379 migrants from the beginning of the year to April 13, the latest date available, pointing at a sharp rise in irregular migration.

Record numbers of migrants attempted to cross the U.S.-Mexico land border in U.S. President Joe Biden’s first year in office, while the Democrat tries to tackle migration’s root causes, recently sending envoys to Mexico and Panama.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) told Reuters last month that high levels of violence throughout Mexico and Central America would continue to spur migration throughout 2022.