RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A total of 194 undocumented migrants were detained in the southeastern Mexican state of Chiapas thanks to the complaint of a Guatemalan, who said he had been the victim of a scam, reported Thursday the Attorney General’s Office (FGR).
“(It was) derived from a complaint from a Guatemalan national who said he was the victim of a scam by people who allegedly are dedicated to taking undocumented migrants to the United States of America and who had a group of migrants on a property,” said the FGR.
According to the institution, other “elements that corroborated the fact” and a search warrant were obtained after receiving the information,” and a search warrant was obtained.
The warrant was executed in a property on a stretch of road in Ocozocoautla de Espinoza, Chiapas. There was an esplanade where 194 migrants from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua were found.
Among them were some minors, and all of them were handed over to the National Migration Institute. In addition, 12 vehicles (trucks, cars, and a motorcycle) were seized.
The region is experiencing an unprecedented migratory wave, and in recent years there have been several caravans of Central Americans fleeing their countries to Mexico and the United States.
An example of this migratory flow is that the Mexican Commission for Refugee Aid (Comar) received 31,842 asylum applications in the first four months of 2021, increasing almost 75% compared to 18,142 in the same period of 2020 and 18,527 in 2019.
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), 178,120 undocumented immigrants were apprehended crossing the border into Mexico last April, the highest number for that month on record since 2000.
This number also represented a 3% increase over March, when 173,448 migrants were intercepted.
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