Mexican officials say they have found about 300 Central American migrants crammed into two trucks in two Gulf Coast states.
The Mexican National Immigration Institute said in a statement late Saturday the men women and children were found in dangerous conditions,without proper ventilation, food or water.
Mexican authorities arrested three people on suspicion of human trafficking.
The largest group, 198 migrants from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, were detected by scanners when their truck was stopped before dawn at a checkpoint in Tamaulipas state just south of the Texas border.
The migrants told authorities they began their journey in Tabasco State and traveled through Veracruz to reach Tamaulipas.
In a separate statement authorities said that a truck was found Friday afternoon in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, carrying 102 Central Americans, among them dozens of children, who “displayed signs of dehydration and suffocation” and whose lives were at risk.
Amnesty International warning
Amnesty International said in a recent report that Mexican migration authorities have routinely returned thousands of people from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras without considering the risk to their life and security upon return.
“Rather than providing them with the protection they are entitled to, Mexico is unlawfully turning its back on these people in need,” the Amnesty report said.
The so-called Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras are a major source of illegal migrants being smuggled into the U.S., where President Donald Trump has promised to clamp down on both legal and illegal migration and build a wall along the Mexican border.
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