MEXICO CITY: Mexican immigration authorities said they found 57 Guatemalan adolescents packed into a trailer on a highway near the U.S. border Thursday.
The National Immigration Institute said the 43 boys and 14 girls were crammed into the truck’s trailer, along with eight men and a woman and her daughter.
All of the adolescents were considered unaccompanied minors, meaning they had no relatives or parents with them.
The vehicle was stopped for inspection on a highway leading to the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas.
The driver of the vehicle was detained. The minors were taken to a child welfare facility.
Children are frequently smuggled through Mexico to rejoin parents or relatives who have already emigrated to the United States.