Mexican officials in the northern part of the country discovered a truck carrying over 50 unaccompanied migrant children, Mexico’s National Institute of Migration (INM) announced Thursday.
The group of migrants consisted of 43 boys, 14 girls, 8 men and one family, a mother and her daughter, according to the INM. Authorities stopped the truck at a vehicle checkpoint along the Chihuahua-Ciudad Juárez highway. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: GOP Rep Doubles Down On Demands About ICE Data Errors Exposed By DCNF)
U.S. authorities in June found an 18-wheeler full of illegal migrants in San Antonio, Texas. The incident resulted in more than 50 deaths.
![REUTERS/Jacob Garcia](https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/2023-01-18T225640Z_1509641609_RC2ZSY92EVYX_RTRMADP_3_USA-IMMIGRATION-MEXICO-scaled-e1674827397280.jpg)
Mexican authorities keep watch as migrants descend from a tractor-trailer where they were transported to the U.S. at a checkpoint in Chiapa de Corzo, in Chiapas state, Mexico January 18, 2023. REUTERS/Jacob Garcia
Federal authorities in the U.S. have seen record numbers of illegal migrants crossing into the southern border in recent years. In fiscal year 2022, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recorded more than 2.3 million migrant encounters and an all-time monthly high of more than 250,000 in December alone at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The U.S. has also recorded a surge in unaccompanied minors crossing the southern border. CBP recorded more than 152,000 encounters of unaccompanied minors in fiscal year 2022 and more than 146,000 in fiscal year 2021, which was up from more than 33,000 in fiscal year 2020.
U.S. immigration authorities must release illegal migrant children and place them in “the least restrictive setting appropriate to the minor’s age and special needs, provided that such setting is consistent with its interests,” according to a 1997 consent decree.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.