At least 17 migrants trying to reach U.S. have died in Mexico so far this year

Mexico City, April 18 (RHC)-- According to the INM migrants have died from accidents, drowning or falling off a railroad while trying to reach the United States.

Mexico's National Migration Institute (INM) reported Saturday that at least 17 migrants, including a minor, have died during 2021 from various causes trying to reach the United States.

According to INM, between January 1 and April 12 of this year, migrants have died due to accidents, drowning or falling from a railroad. Among the victims are people originating from Cuba, Venezuela and Honduras.  The statement notes that the bodies of nine undocumented migrants who could not overcome the force of the river, the cold water or both, in their attempt to reach the United States, were recovered along the Rio Bravo.

The INM indicated that of these nine cases, which occurred in the state of Coahuila, eight were men -one of them a minor- and one was a woman.

The deaths of the 17 migrants were reported in the states of Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Tabasco, Chiapas and Oaxaca, where the 22 INM Beta Groups are active.

Due to the increase in irregular migration reaching record numbers, Mexico has deployed some 12,000 agents from the National Guard, the INM and other institutions to its southern and northern borders.  Last March, the INM detained 17,445 irregular migrants, of which 3,139 were minors traveling alone.