Global General

Mexican authorities detain 535 illegal immigrants

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-05-14 11:06

MEXICO CITY - Mexican authorities have detained 535 undocumented immigrants so far this month, the Public Security Ministry said on Thursday.

The single largest number of arrests took place on Wednesday in Veracruz, a state on Mexico's eastern coast, the ministry said in a statement.

Police halted a train in Texistepec, where cargo trains travel en route to the United States. Eight-two people onboard were arrested, 54 of them were from Honduras, 21 Guatemalans, five Salvadorians, one from Nicaragua and another from Belize. Five of those arrested where minors.

During a separate operation, police arrested 10 Hondurans travelling onboard a cargo train in Tepaeapulco, a small town in the central Hidalgo state.

Last month, Mexico's army rescued 16 people who were held hostage in a farm in the northern Nuevo Leon state, and killed two armed men at the scene. The hostages, including a woman and her two-year-old son, were being held in chains and handcuffs.