This footage shows how 266 migrants crammed into three lorries like sardines were caught by cops in Mexico before they could reach the USA.

The National Guard – the Mexican national gendarmerie force – reported on 6th September that its officers had stopped the lorries on a highway in Galeana, Nuevo Leon state, north-eastern Mexico.

Of the migrants found onboard, most were from Central America, with 80 from Guatemala, 78 from Nicaragua, 48 from El Salvador, and 19 from Honduras.

Twenty-six Cubans, 13 Ecuadorians, and two Dominicans were also found onboard.

Sixty-two were travelling as a family unit, while 20 minors – including one girl – were found to be unaccompanied.

The migrants were transferred by staff from the National Institute of Migration (INM) – a unit of the government of Mexico dependent on the Secretariat of the Interior – to facilities in Guadalupe, also in Nuevo Leon state, to determine their immigration status.

Neither the INM nor local media reported on the vehicles’ intended destination. However, it is possible that the migrants were hoping to enter the USA.

In a statement obtained by Newsflash on 6th September, the INM said: “Federal agents from the National Institute of Migration (INM) of the Secretariat of the Interior identified – this Tuesday – 266 migrants from seven countries who were travelling crammed into double bottoms of three tractor-trailers.

“During the early hours of today, an anonymous call was received about the transfer of children and adults in Torton-type lorries, in an area known as Los Pipotes; therefore, a round of the area was made with the support of elements of the police from the Municipality of Galeana, Nuevo Leon.

“Three units were located, one of them without licence plates, which were stopped for inspection.

“In the dark, voices and jostling in the back of the lorries evidenced the presence of the migrants; some standing, others on their knees and others sitting cross-legged on planks that formed a second floor in the dry van.

“Due to the number of migrants who were travelling in the cargo transport units and the overcrowded conditions in which they were journeying, a decision was taken to transfer them to the Galeana Municipal Auditorium.”

The statement continued: “As part of the INM’s tasks, 80 migrants from Guatemala, 78 from Nicaragua, 48 from El Salvador, 26 from Cuba, 19 from Honduras, 13 from Ecuador and two from the Dominican Republic were identified.

“Of the 266 foreign migrants, 62 travelled in a family nucleus; in addition to 19 boys and one girl, minors unaccompanied by a relative.”