The National Institute of Migration (INM) of Mexico announced the apprehension of roughly 711 migrants between January 5 and 8 of this month.
Working jointly with the Mexican National Guard, the INM made the migrant apprehensions in a series of operations throughout the southern Mexican state of Chiapas.
According to the INM, over the four-day period, 568 adults and 143 minors were found to be in Mexico illegally. Most of the migrants originated from Central America, the rest were from the Caribbean, South America, and Africa.
Some of the apprehended migrants were from Syria as well.
The table below shows the migrant apprehension data by each day:
|
|
|||||
| Date | Migrants Apprehended |
Men | Women | Minors | Nationalities of Origin |
| January 5 | 117 | 74 | 18 | 25 | Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Haiti |
| January 6 | 83 | 113 | 33 | 37 | Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Cuba, Chile, Sierra Leone |
| January 7 | 178 | 107 | 37 | 34 | Honduras, Guatemala, Haiti, El Salvador, Brazil, Congo, Cameroon, Ghana, Syria |
| January 8 | 233 | 150 | 37 | 46 | Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Venezuela, Cameroon, Sudan |
|
|
|||||
The recent increase of migrants in southern Mexico has strained health care and government resources.
The head of the nursing unit of the General Hospital of Tapachula, Maria Isabel Romero Ochoa, said hospital services increased by 50 percent since the admission of migrants.
Also, the rate of medical attention to newborn children birthed by migrant women increased by 50 percent as well — higher than the rate of 2018.
In 2019, more than 1,000 migrant women were treated at Tapachula General Hospital, primarily for obstetric reasons.
Subsequently, the cost to assist migrants has doubled.
Romero Ochoa also said the migrants that were admitted and treated were from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Colombia, Haiti, Cuba, and Africa.