Mexico detains 108 in immigration sweep; most from Central America

Reuters
Apr 27, 2013
Mexico City

Mexican authorities said on Saturday they detained 108 undocumented immigrants along highways, at bus stations and on a cargo train route that thousands of Central Americans use every year to cross Mexico and enter the United States illegally.

Ninety five Central Americans, mostly from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, were detained in the southern states of Oaxaca and Tabasco during sweeps by federal police in the last 24 hours, Mexico's migration institute said in a statement.

Seven of the Central Americans were children, the institute said.

An increasing number of Central Americans are sneaking across Mexico's largely unpoliced southern border en route to the United States. Migrants have been spurred on by rampant poverty and rising drug gang violence in their home countries.  Read more.