Mexican Officials Find 266 Migrants Packed in 3 Tractor-Trailers near Border

Immigration officials in Mexico found 266 migrants packed into the double bottoms of three tractor-trailers. The migrants came from seven different countries and included 20 unaccompanied minors.

Federal agents of the National Migration Institute (INM) of the Ministry of the Interior apprehended 266 migrants in three tractor-trailers in Nuevo León on Tuesday morning, according to a statement released by the Government of Mexico.

Early Tuesday morning, Mexican officials received information about a group of migrant children and adults being transferred in Torton-type trucks. Police from the municipality of Galeana, Nuevo León, began a search for the trucks.

Officers stopped three trucks and began inspections after finding one with no license plate, officials stated. The officers heard voices coming from the trailer and detected rustling sounds. When they opened the trailers, the officers found the migrants on their knees and sitting cross-legged on planks that formed a second floor.

State, local, and federal law enforcement officials, including the Mexican National Guard, participated in transporting the 266 migrants to the Galeana Municipal Auditorium for processing.

Officials identified the foreign nationals as migrants from Guatemala (78), Nicaragua (78), El Salvador (48), Cuba (26), Honduras (19), Ecuador (13), and Dominican Republic (2).

The group consisted of 62 family units, 19 unaccompanied minor boys, and one unaccompanied migrant girl.

On August 17, Mexican officials found 150 migrants packed into a single trailer bound for the United States, Breitbart Texas reported. Del Rio Sector Chief Patrol Agent Jason D. Owens tweeted photos showing a group of migrants huddled inside a tractor-trailer in Mexico. The sector worked with Mexican officials to find and stop the truck headed toward the U.S. border.

The tactic of loading migrants into these potential death traps is not new. Breitbart Texas reports extensively on the use by Mexican cartel-connected smugglers to move migrants into the U.S. interior. These smuggling efforts can have deadly consequences.