A total of 240 migrants bound for the United States were found inside a warehouse during a joint operation between state cops and immigration agents in the central Mexican state of Puebla.
The discovery was made Wednesday after authorities received a tip regarding suspicious activities involving a group of individuals who were not wearing face masks near the building located in the Puebla city neighborhood of Bosques de Manzanilla.
The National Institute of Migration said there were 61 children inside the building.
The migrants were identified as natives of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.
Mexican newspaper El Financiero reported that the migrants were bussed to the José María Morelos and Pavón sports complex in Mexico City and remained in custody of the National Institute of Migration.
On Wednesday, state cops and immigration agents in Puebla, Mexico, raided a warehouse were migrant smugglers held 241 Central Americans who were bound for the United States border. A total of 61 children were among the group
Authorities acting on an anonymous tip Wednesday found 240 migrants, including 61 children, inside a warehouse in Puebla, Mexico
Residents became suspicious of the movement of several people who were not wearing face masks outside a warehouse in Puebla, Mexico, and decided to call the police. State cops and immigration agents entered the warehouse Wednesday and discovered 241 migrants from Central America who had plans of crossing the United States-Mexico border
The discovery comes less than a week after more than 30 migrants, who were also bound for the United States, were injured after the bus they were traveling on flipped on a rainy highway in the northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas.
The driver was reportedly on his cellphone and speeding before losing control with 56 passengers, including minors, on board the morning of June 17. The coach crashed into a guard rail on the right side of the road in Villa Manuel, according to a report filed by the Civil Defense Department for the Tamaulipas city of González.
Thirty-three injured migrants were taken to Roberto Torre Cantú Hospital and Tampico General Hospital.
Pictured are some of the 240 migrants who were forced to stay inside a warehouse in Puebla, Mexico. The individuals were identified as natives of Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, and were bound for the United States
The United States-Mexico border region, which covers 1,954 miles, has become a pressing issue for the administration of President Joe Biden. The administration has struggled with a rise in unlawful border crossers.
Chose by Biden to find a solution for the migrant crisis, Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday will make her first visit to the border area in El Paso, Texas.
Harris will be joined by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Harris spokeswoman Symone Sanders said.
President Joe Biden (left) chose Vice President Kamala Harris (right) to head the government’s efforts in finding a solution for the migrant crisis. On Friday, Harris will make her first visit to the border area in El Paso, Texas
This chart shows how 2021 border crossings – pictured in blue – rocketed on crossings made in 2020, represented by the brown line (2018 is pictured in gray, with 2019 in orange)
The Vice President visited the U.S.-Mexico border many times as a senator and attorney general from California, but has been slammed by Republicans for first choosing to meet with the presidents of Mexico and Guatemala this month.
Harris all along stressed that she would go to the border.
A White House official who asked not to be named said Harris wanted to visit Guatemala and Mexico before going to the border. Since returning, she has been tied up with the vaccination awareness programs, infrastructure negotiations with lawmakers on Capitol Hill and events tied to boosting voting rights, the official said.
‘She has always said she will visit the border but it was more like when is it the right time,’ the official said. In Mexico, Harris told reporters she plans to visit the border without offering details.
Former President Donald Trump, who plans a border visit on June 30, said in a statement: ‘If (Texas) Governor (Greg) Abbott and I weren’t going there next week, she would have never gone!’
The last monthly CBP report indicated that Border Patrol agents stopped 180,034 migrants in May along the southwestern border, a slight increase from 178,854 the prior month, with the increase driven largely by single adults.
From March to May more than 530,000 people were apprehended and pushed back into Mexico after attempting to cross without legal immigration documents, the June 10 report showed.