229 migrants calling for help found in back of truck in eastern Mexico

Mexican authorities found 229 migrants on Monday packed in the back of a truck travelling through the eastern state of Veracruz, the first such encounter in months, marking a potential uptick in migration since US President Donald Trump took office.

Jose Manuel Pozos, the state’s deputy Government secretary, said that they found migrants trapped in a truck reported stolen after they began to call for help from the police impound lot. Most of the migrants were from Central America, 17 were minors and a number were dehydrated, he said.

Veracruz is one of a number of states that masses of migrants have historically crossed to reach the United States, and are preyed upon by cartels and other criminal groups. They are often packed into trucks in dangerous conditions to evade authorities while being smuggled north.

But as migration north has plummeted since Trump took office, cases are few and far between.

An employee at the Xalapa vehicle impound lot, where the truck was taken, told The Associated Press that the trailer had been stopped about 45 kilometres southeast of the city and that hours after arriving at the lot, workers began to hear shouting and banging coming from inside.