EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Authorities in the Mexican border state of Chihuahua say they have seized a semi and arrested its driver for allegedly transporting 257 migrants from various countries to the U.S. border.
The double semi-trailer came under scrutiny at a highway checkpoint coming out of Chihuahua City. There, members of the Mexican army opened the locked trailer doors and found people huddling close together, including at least 50 children.
Agents with the National Migration Institute took the migrants to facilities in Juarez last Friday, the Mexican Defense Ministry (SEDENA) said in a statement. Images released by Mexican authorities show migrants being processed and receiving water and an initial screening behind a large tent. They also show migrants in cramped quarters inside the trailer boxes.
Some of the migrants in the trailer were from African countries, Chihuahua Public Safety Secretary Gilberto Loya said on Monday.
Loya said the Mexican Attorney General’s Office received prior information about the semi and its cargo and alerted local authorities, the army and National Guard.
He said he fears this is the result of transnational criminal organizations “rushing” to get migrants across the border before President-Elect Trump takes office in January in the United States.
“It doesn’t happen too often in our state that (smugglers) transport people in a trailer box as if they were cargo. This is an indication of a possible acceleration on the part of organized criminal groups to transport and traffic people,” Loya said.
He added this is not the first time migrants from Africa are found enroute to the border. Several have been rescued by the state police from “kidnapping situations,” he said.
Loya said the state police was told the number of migrants in the double trailer was around 150, including 57 children. State officials later directed further questions to the Mexican army.