Mexican authorities found 61 Central American migrants, mostly minors, hiding in a truck on a highway in northern Mexico near the border with the United States.

THE MIGRANTS WERE CROWDED AND DEHYDRATED

Members of the National Guard found 33 minors and 28 adults overcrowded and dehydrated by the high temperatures in a redila truck on the Monterrey-Reynosa federal highway, in the northern state of Nuevo León, the National Institute of Migration (INM).

After detecting the truck and giving it the order to stop for a search, the uniformed men began to hear noises and voices, and when they opened the doors they found the migrants piled up and covered with a plastic mesh.

Of the total number of migrants located, 57 are of Honduran nationality, three are Guatemalan and one unaccompanied Salvadoran minor, the INM said. None of the detainees had legal documents.

The migrants were channeled to the System for the Integral Development of the Family (DIF) of Nuevo León for their care and accommodation, and the procedures were initiated to give them consular assistance and manage their assisted return to their countries of origin.

During the first quarter of the year there was a vertiginous increase in the entry of irregular migrants to Mexico, reaching 31,492 people, of which more than 10% were minors and many of them traveled unaccompanied.

In Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, a group of migrants was attacked in the Anapra area by alleged military personnel.

Authorities from the United States and Mexico met last month to discuss the situation facing the border that the two countries share in the face of the massive influx of unauthorized migrants.

During the meeting, humanitarian actions were discussed to promote inclusive economic development in the north of Central America in the short term, the Mexican government said in a statement.

Most of the migrants who arrive at the southern border of the United States come from the countries of the so-called Northern Triangle – made up of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador – that have been hit by the economic crisis exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, corruption, violence and most recently by two devastating hurricanes last November.

A school in La Grulla, Texas closed its facilities when more than 150 immigrants were seized by the Border Patrol off its campus.

Mexico imposed new restrictions on its southern border last month, where only essential-purpose crossings will be allowed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Some analysts viewed the move as a front for increased immigration enforcement.

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