Mexico discovers 210 illegal immigrants

TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Mexico (AP) ? Mexican police discovered 210 mainly Central and South Amer ican migrants crammed inside a truck Sunday near the country's southern border, an immigration official said.

The dehydrated and hungry migrants were found when the truck was searched at a highway checkpoint, said the immigration official.

Police detained the truck's driver and his assistant, both of whom will be transferred to a maximum-security prison, the official said.

The migrants were mainly from Brazil, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua, but also from India. They were packed so tightly into the truck that they had to remain standing, official said.

The official said the migrants had not eaten in 24 hours and were now being given food and water. They are being held at a Chiapas federal police station awaiting deportation.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants cross Mexico's southern border on their way to the United States. They are often smuggled in brutal conditions, packed tightly inside tractor trailers on long journeys. They are subject to robbery, extortion and kidnapping along the way.

The United Nations estimates that smuggling migrants into the United States is a $6.6-billion business annually. That doesn't include another $1 billion paid by thousands of non-Mexicans to cross from Guatemala into Mexico and then travel north toward the US border, according to a 2010 UN report on transnational crime.

Just last month, 513 people were apprehended in two trailers in Chiapas, bordering Guatemala. They represented a cargo worth at least $3.5 million. Another trailer filled with 219 people was discovered in January.

William, 43, one of the 210 migrants picked up Sunday, said he paid $3,000 to smugglers to truck him from Guatemala to the United States to work. He knew that once he was caught there would be no refund.

"There's no work back home," said William, who would not reveal his last name.

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Source: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/322482/mexico-discovers-210-illegal-immigrants

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