Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard speaks at the Mexican consulate, two days after a mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, U.S. August 5, 2019. REUTERS/Julio-Cesar Chavez
August 9, 2019
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s foreign ministry said on Thursday that 122 Mexicans had been detained in the southern U.S. state of Mississippi as part of sweeping U.S. immigration operations.
U.S. immigration authorities arrested nearly 700 people at seven agricultural processing plants across the state on Wednesday in what federal officials said could be the largest worksite enforcement operation in a single state.
In a statement on Twitter, the Mexican foreign ministry said that 34 of the 122 people detained had been released and notified of dates for hearings with migration authorities.
Separately, the Honduran foreign ministry said that so far two Hondurans had been confirmed among those detained.
U.S. President Donald Trump has made cracking down on illegal immigration, especially from Central America and Mexico, one of the signature policies of his administration.
(Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz; Writing by Julia Love; Additional reporting by Gustavo Palencia in Tegucigalpa; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Sandra Maler)
