Mexico says over 250 migrants found in US-bound truck

Migrants seeking asylum in the United States through the CBP One digital application wave flags during a binational mass to remember migrants who have died attempting to reach the US on the banks of the Rio Grande in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua State, Mexico, on November 9, 2024. Agence France-Presse

MEXICO CITY — Mexican authorities said Sunday that they had found more than 250 migrants crammed into a double trailer truck heading towards the US border.

Immigration agents backed by members of the army made the discovery on Friday at a checkpoint in Chihuahua state, the defense ministry said.

The migrants, of various nationalities, were transferred to immigration facilities to check their status while the driver was handed over to the public prosecutor’s office, it said.

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Thousands of migrants fleeing violence and poverty travel across Mexico every year to the US border.

Transporting migrants hidden in overcrowded trucks is one of the most dangerous methods used by people smugglers.

In 2022, more than 50 migrants died after they were abandoned in a sweltering tractor-trailer that crossed the US-Mexican border into Texas.

Others choose to join caravans undertaking the long journey on foot, enduring hunger, exhaustion and crime gangs.

Donald Trump’s recent election victory has fueled concerns among migrants that it will become harder to win asylum after he becomes president.

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The number of US border patrol encounters with migrants crossing over from Mexico illegally dropped to around 54,000 in September, from a peak of nearly 250,000 in December, according to the US government.

The fall came after outgoing US President Joe Biden issued an order in June to shut the border to asylum seekers after certain daily limits are reached.