Authorities Discover 44 U.S.-Bound Migrant Minors in Central Mexico

Federal authorities in Mexico detained 81 Central American migrants who had entered their country illegally. The group told officials they were headed for the U.S. border. Authorities described 44 of the 81 migrants as being underage.

The apprehension took place this week in the central Mexican state of Puebla. State police and members of Mexico’s National Migration Institute (INM) raided a human smuggling stash house with 81 migrants inside, a prepared statement disclosed. During the raid, the migrants could not prove that they were in Mexico legally and the adults were taken for deportation procedures, according to the INM written statement.

Officials turned the underage migrants and the family groups over to the System for the Development of Children and Families (DIF) for processing.

Officials described the demographic makeup of the group as:

• 46 migrants from Honduras, including nine underage females, 18 underage males, ten women, and nine men.
• 18 migrants from Guatemala, including four underage females, six underage males, seven women, and one man.
• 16 migrants from El Salvador, including seven underage females, two women, and seven men.
• One adult woman from Nicaragua.

The apprehension comes at a time when Mexican authorities are experiencing an increasing number of human smuggling attempts and apprehensions nationwide since the start of the year. The move forced Mexico’s government to deploy 8,700 soldiers to help carry out immigration enforcement in an attempt to bolster the overwhelmed INM agents and federal police officers.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com. 

Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.