Mexico deports MS-13 gang members found in caravan near Texas border
Mexico deports MS-13 gang members found in caravan near Texas border
by Anna Giaritelli
| February 15, 2019 09:26 PM
Mexican officials say MS-13 gang members from El Salvador infiltrated a group of migrants that traveled in a caravan from Central America to the country's border with Texas.
Miguel Riquelme, governor of Mexico's Coahuila state, said Mara Salvatrucha members were hiding in the group of around 1,600 migrants staying at a federally operated facility in Piedras Negras, Cohauila, and were recently identified by government officials.
"We have data that there are agitators inside the shelter, that there are members of the caravan who are provoking others, some of them belong to the Mara Salvatrucha , some others who bring criminal records in their country and what we have been doing is deporting them directly with Migration," Riquelme told local reporters, according to an English language translation.
At least twice this past week, a few dozen people violently tried to break out of the heavily guarded facility and fought federal police.
Twenty-seven who took part in the fight were deported, according to Maverick County Sheriff Tom Schmerber, a U.S. law enforcement official who was informed of the removals by Piedras Negras officials.
"They got deported right away," Schmerber said in a phone call Friday.
Piedras Negras Mayor Claudio Bres on Thursday said 25 people were removed from the country.
The group of migrants arrived on buses in the Mexican border city Feb. 4 and have been held there as they wait to make asylum claims at U.S. ports of entry.
Mexican officials warned last week anyone who tried to break out of the federally operated facility would be sent back to their home country.
Hundreds of militarized Mexican police officers have been standing guard outside a chain link fence surrounding the facility since last Monday.
U.S. officials can only process up to 20 asylum seekers daily and applicants must return to Mexico for months while their case makes its way through the immigration courts, prompting some to become frustrated with the slow process. Others who took part in the fight with police said the conditions inside were sub-par even though the Mexican government has said it is feeding, providing medical care, and activities for the group.
Some migrants have been allowed to leave the shelter for a few hours at a time but anyone who wants to leave must have received a humanitarian visa upon entering Mexico from its southern border. The document gives Central Americans temporary protection to travel through the country since normally visas are required.
Those who illegally entered Mexico are not let out of the facility because the government is concerned that group might illegally enter the U.S.
On Tuesday, the Coahuila Gov.Miguel Riquelme began deporting those migrants who illegally entered Mexico on their way to America.
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