Mexico Apprehends 16K Migrants in Four-Day Span

Mexican immigration authorities announced the arrests of 16,069 migrants over a four-day span this week. The arrests come as Mexico continues to see a rise in migrants entering the country through its southern border, much to the benefit of cartel smugglers.

This week, Mexico’s National Migration Institute (INM) announced the arrests of 16,069 migrants from 46 different countries in a four-day span across 22 cities.

#Comunicado| @INAMI_mx rescató entre el 17 y 20 de noviembre pasado a 16 mil 096 personas migrantes de 46 países que transitaban de manera irregular por México https://t.co/pL5YBSxjdV pic.twitter.com/n5GKOTZtdj

— INM (@INAMI_mx) November 22, 2022

The high figure comes at a time when immigration authorities in the U.S. face record-setting apprehensions at the border. In Mexico, human smuggling organizations are substantially profiting as migrants press to the U.S. border. This week, Republican congressional leaders called for DHS Secretary Alajandro Mayorkas to resign or face impeachment proceedings.

Additionally, in Mexico, INM officials have been issuing a large number of travel permits that allow migrants to freely move throughout the country for a set period of time, usually 30 days. Most use those permits to make their way to northern border cities. The measure has been praised by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador as a way to disperse migrant caravans.

The INM has been plagued by a cloud of corruption where agents have a long history of working with human smugglers and manufacturing false travel documents.

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.     

“Williams Cortez” from Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles contributed to this report.