45 Central American Migrants Rescued in NE Mexico

In the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, police officers were able to rescue 45 migrants from Guatemala and Honduras, just across the Rio Grande from McAllen, Texas, as reported by the Tamaulipas Coordination Group via Fox News Latino.

The state police officers responded to a tip from the public and went to a house on the border city of the Puertas del Sol district, where people were being held against their will, said the joint state-federal agency in a statement.

The officers found 45 people at the house, 44 of whom are from Guatemala and one from Honduras. All of them are said to be headed for the United States, like tens of thousands of Central Americans who undertake the journey across Mexico each year. It is a dangerous trek involving criminals and corrupt Mexican officials preying on them.

No arrests have been made during the operation, however, gangs are known to kidnap, exploit and murder migrants who have been targeted in extortion schemes. The 45 migrants rescues are lucky, found alive and turned over to the National Migrant Institute (INM) for proscessing. Fox News noted that in 2010, a total of 72 migrants from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Brazil and Ecuador were murdered in Tamaulipas, noted as the worst migrant massacre in Mexico's history.

Of course, there are also migrants who have been rescued. Prensa Latina noted that in 2015, around 500 migrants have been rescued in Chiapas, a state on the southernmost tip in Mexico. It has also been reported that 42 people who have been involved in human trafficking have been detained.

These victims, according to the Office of the Attorney General of the State (PGJE), have been smuggled by means of transport cargo, and in inhumane conditions. The PGJE of Chiapas noted that there were about 105 criminal gangs already dismantled, and 425 people detained in the wake of the creation of the Attorney General's Office Specialized in Crimes Committed against Immigrants.

In the past year alone, 20 criminal rings have been dismantled, and 13 people were detained for being gang members, with another 10 detained for extortion.

The Los Angeles Times also reported that lately, migrant deaths along the Mexican border have decreased. The US Customs and Border Protection reported that there were 240 migrant deaths at the border in the 2015 fiscal year that ended in September, a significant decrease from the previous year with 380 deaths.

The video below is an example of how migrants have been treated in order to cross borders for a better life. With this in mind, do you think the US should tighten or loosen the immigration policies to help people looking for greener pastures?