Mexico finds 491 migrants in vacant lot en route to U.S. — and 277 of them are children

Mexico’s immigration agency said late Friday it found 491 migrants being held at a compound by the side of a highway east of Mexico City.

All but six of the migrants were from Guatemala. The others are Hondurans.

There were 277 children and adolescents among the migrants, most of whom were traveling with relatives. But there were also 52 unaccompanied minors.

The migrants were being held in a walled compound near the city of Puebla, along a route frequently used by migrant smugglers. The migrants were taken to offices of the Mexico’s National Institute of Migration. 

“They were transferred to headquarters of the National Institute of Migration to provide them with water, food and medical attention,” the organization said in a statement.

Smugglers in Mexico frequently hide migrants at such compounds until they can be taken aboard buses or trucks to the U.S. border. 

The Biden administration instituted stricter asylum rules in an effort to contain the surge of illegal migration to the United States. In June CBS News reported that the number of migrants plummeted that month but the DHS still expects to see a “lot of migration in coming weeks and months.”

A busload of 49 migrants arrived in Los Angeles on Friday afternoon, the seventh such busload since June 14, CBS Los Angeles reported.