Everything that is known about the more than 700 migrants found in a warehouse in central Mexico

More than 700 migrants, most of them Central Americans, were found this week in an abandoned warehouse in the city center Mexicoaccording to the National Migration Institute (INM).

TO LOOK: Migrants reorganize caravan and advance from southern Mexico

The huge group made up of 726 people arrived at the warehouse located in the municipality of Cuaxomulco, state of Tlaxcala, aboard two trucks of goods, according to witnesses who reported to the authorities.

Furthermore, the facilities were guarded by four alleged human traffickers who were arrested during the joint intervention of the Secretariat of National Defense, the National Guard, state and municipal police and INM employees.

According to INM, the group was made up of 108 women, 399 men and 75 unaccompanied minors, in addition to 45 families made up of 144 members.

The migrants encountered come mainly from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Ecuador and Nicaragua.

The alleged traffickers detained during the operation were placed at the disposal of the Attorney General’s Office, while the migrants were transferred to an auditorium in Cuaxomulco to follow the corresponding administrative processes, INM reported.

The institute also specified that unaccompanied minors are being served by the National System for Integral Family Development.

After the intervention, the migrants were transferred to an auditorium in the city to follow the corresponding administrative processes. (Twitter @INAMI_mx/)

It is assumed that this group may belong to the caravan that arrived in the state of Oaxaca at the beginning of the year and is awaiting the necessary permits from Mexican authorities to continue its journey towards the northern border with the United States.

The arrival of this new caravan comes amid a decline in crossings into US territory, which occurred after up to 10,000 daily crossings were reported at the end of 2023.

Migrants take part in a caravan heading to the border with the United States in the community of Arriaga, state of Chiapas, Mexico, on January 8, 2024. (Photo STRINGER / AFP) (STRINGER/)

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) considered the crossing from Mexico to the United States in 2022 as the “most dangerous land migration route in the world”, because at least 686 deaths or disappearances were recorded that year.

In 2023, the number dropped slightly to 533 missing or dead migrants on the border between Mexico and the United States, but the IOM’s Missing Migrants Project warned that, in total, around 1,104 people suffered this fatal outcome on the different migration routes in Mexico. . .

In this regard, US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas highlighted last week that it was premature to determine whether the decrease in crossings during the first weeks of 2024 was due to the season or the resumption of transfer operations by the Government. Mexican to prevent caravans from arriving at the northern border.

Source: Elcomercio