Over 100 unaccompanied migrant children were discovered inside an abandoned trailer in Mexico Sunday — one of the largest recent discoveries of minors migrating through the country.
Most of the 103 unchaperoned minors had been traveling through Mexico from Guatemala, the government said Monday.
In addition to the children were 212 adults from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Ecuador, the National Migration Institute (INM) said in a statement.
Authorities also found 28 migrants traveling as families inside the truck.
The families came from Guatemala and El Salvador and brought the total number of migrants to 343.
The trailer was found abandoned without a driver along the side of the Cosamaloapan-La Tinaja highway, according to the INM.
It had been rigged with fans and a metal structure that created a second level inside. It also had several fans anchored to the lower level and makeshift vents in its ceiling.
A photo of the concerning discovery shared by INM showed plastic water bottles and other trash scattered across the floor of the truck.
Video footage taken by INM shows swarms of migrants being helped out from the back of the crowded trailer.
Many of the migrants appear to be young men, several of whom are shirtless as they jump out of the packed truck.
Migrants inside the truck donned colored bracelets as a means of identification.
The unaccompanied children will be placed into the custody of Veracruz’s family services system. The other migrants will be processed to determine their legal status in Mexico.
Nearly 60 children without adult supervision were discovered inside a crowded truck bringing about 70 migrants from Guatemala into Mexico in January.
Most of the truck’s occupants were young, unaccompanied boys who were between the ages of 14 and 17.
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