513 People Crammed Into Mexico Semi-Truck

Two semi-trucks were stumbled across carrying a load of five hundred and thirteen illegal immigrants through Mexico to the U.S.. In the state of Chiapas, in southern Mexico, a law enforcement checkpoint used x-ray scanners to look inside the trucks, which ended up being the human cargo packed together standing upright like animals in terrible conditions.

Human smuggling operation found near Guatemalan border

In Chiapas, which is near the Guatemalan border, Mexican authorities stumbled across a human smuggling operation. While two semi-trucks were driving through law enforcement checkpoints near Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, X-ray scanning equipment found that there were hundreds of individuals packed to the cargo trailers, according to MSNBC. Inside the trucks there were 513 people that were holding on to cargo ropes that had been strung while being hungry and dehydrated.

The number of immigrants being smuggled came from over five different nations

Those in the trucks were from different countries, not just one. Most of the people were from Guatemala; however, some weren't. There were 6 from Nepal, one from japan, 1 from china, 12 from India, 47 from El Salvador and 32 that had come from Ecuador. Most were male, but there were 32 females and four kids. Four smugglers were apprehended when they tried to flee, and their human cargo is in the care of Mexican authorities, according to CNN. The trucks only had air holes drilled into the top of the trailers, and the Chiapas lawyer general states the smugglers demanded $7,000 per person. In Puebla, the trucks were to be re-routed. This would have gotten the individuals in the U.S., in theory. There were 219 migrants stumbled across in the same region in a truck. This was in Jan.

How an immigrant travels to the U.S.

Mexico is where many immigrants travel. This is where they go first if they want to the United States at some point. BBC states that Mexican cops thought this was one of the biggest finds. Most illegal immigrants pay a fee to get across the United States border with help from human smugglers, coyotes or coyotaje. Migrants have little recourse in the event of injury and could be subject to abuse. In August of last year, according to the Christian Science Monitor, 72 migrants were slaughtered by the Zetas drug cartel and more than 10,000 were kidnapped by gangs between April and Sept last year also.