EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Authorities in Oaxaca, Mexico, are investigating a crash that claimed the lives of three people and left another five injured.
The state Attorney General’s Office said two of the dead were citizens of Cameroon and all the occupants of the overturned black SUV were African migrants. The crash happened Thursday on Federal Highway 190, which connects the border state of Chiapas to neighboring Oaxaca, Puebla and then Mexico City.
The injured citizens of Cameroon, Ghana and Guinea were taken from the site of the crash near the town of Jalapa del Marques to nearby hospitals. Mexican news reports say a truck struck the SUV; the AG’s Office said it has started a homicide investigation but did not say if another vehicle was involved.
Mexico’s Gobernacion, or Interior Department, in January reported documenting a nine-fold increase in migrants from Africa entering the country. The government processed 59,834 citizens of African countries in 2023, compared with only 6,672 in 2022. That only includes those who sought visas or humanitarian permits or were detained by National Migration Institute agents.
Likewise, the number of African migrants surrendering or being apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border also has gone up. Many are being brought to Sonora, Mexico, by smuggling organizations. They then surrender to U.S. Border Patrol agents between ports of entry near Lukeville, Arizona.
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