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Mexican authorities find 513
illegal immigrants in 2 tractor-trailers
Mexico City (CNN). May, 18, 2011. Mexican authorities said they found
(with x-ray) and detained more than 500 illegal immigrants from Central
America and Asia who were crammed inside two tractor-trailers heading
toward the United States on Tuesday.
X-ray equipment detected the immigrants at checkpoints in the southern
state of Chiapas, the state attorney general's office said. The drivers
of both trucks sped away after authorities ordered them to stop, but
police apprehended them nearby.
Inside the tractor-trailers, they found 513 people from El Salvador,
Ecuador, China, Japan, Guatemala, India, Nepal, Honduras and the
Dominican Republic.
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Each of them had paid $7,000 to travel to the United States, the
attorney general said.
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They had been traveling in "inhumane conditions," Mexico's National
Migration Institute said.
Officials said the group was receiving food, shelter and medical
assistance while Mexican federal immigration authorities reached out to
consulates and embassies to arrange their return to their home
countries.
Mexico's southern state of Chiapas, which borders Guatemala, is a major
crossing point for Central American immigrants heading north.
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In 2010, Mexican authorities apprehended about 25,000 illegal immigrants
there, according to statistics from Mexico's National Migration
Institute.
Source: CNN.com
Journalist Angeles Mariscal
and CNNMexico.com contributed to this report.
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