Mexico reports people-smuggling surge amid jump in migration

23/9/2021 6:12

        People-smuggling crimes in Mexico this year have more than tripled since 2020, the government said on Wednesday, as the country battles to cope
        with a sharp increase in illegal immigration at the U.S. border.
        
        Between January and August, Mexico registered 1,232 people-smuggling crimes, a jump of nearly 228% from the 376 logged during the same period in 2020, Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodriguez told a regular government news conference.
        
        Government officials say many migrants pay people-smugglers to make their way on the perilous journey from Mexico's southern border with Guatemala up to the United States.
        
        Rodriguez made the announcement alongside President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, whose administration has had to contend with a massive jump in the number of undocumented migrants from around the Americas trying to reach the United States.