The Attorney General of the Mexican Republic (PGR) is investigating National Institute of Migration (INM) officials who are believed to be part of an extensive network dedicated to trafficking undocumented immigrants. This network operates throughout Chiapas and extends to other migration stations in the country.

According the PGR file the corrupt INM officials, rather than deporting detained immigrants, offer to release them in exchange for bribes solicited from the families of the detainees. Seven INM officials have been arrested in the case.

Investigations have revealed that there around 200 criminal groups actively trafficking undocumented immigrants in Chiapas and the northern frontier states of Mexico. INM has 52 detention stations in the country where undocumented foreigners are temporary held while they await either deportation or the resolution of their migratory status.

Official migratory statistics register around two million documented and undocumented border crossings each year at the southern border alone. Another 160 million crossings are recorded each year at Mexico’s northern border.

The majority of undocumented immigrants entering Mexico are Guatemalans looking for temporary labor in the states of Chiapas and Quintana Roo, and also Guatemalans, Hondurans and Salvadorans hoping to pass through the country to the United States.

Source: Cuarto Poder