The death of 50 immigrants found in a truck in San AntonioTexas, on Monday prompted the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to launch a message demanding a thorough investigation into the case.
“We stand with the families who have lost loved ones and call on authorities on both sides of the border to rigorously investigate and bring to justice all those who, with their callous disregard for human life, contributed to this terrible incident,” said Michele Klein Solomon, IOM Regional Director for Central America, North America and the Caribbean in a joint statement.
Initially, 46 people were found dead at the scene, authorities said. Four more died after being taken to hospitals, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said.
According to the IOM Missing Migrants Project, “nearly 3,000 people have been reported missing or deceased while trying to cross the border from Mexico to the United States since 2014”, the latest tragedy brings the number to 290 in the first half of 2022.
US reactions
Senator Bob Menéndez, a Democrat from New Jersey, blamed the US immigration system for cases like these and blamed former President Donald Trump.
“This is a chilling tragedy. These deaths are the consequence of restricting access to our asylum system and failing to create legal pathways for migrants at the southern border of the United States,” Menéndez said in a statement.
Republicans, meanwhile, continue to blame the great influx of migrants in an irregular situation to the southern border to the handling of the situation by the administration of President Joe Biden.
“Absolutely horrible and heartbreaking,” lamented Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz, who added in a tweet: “Human smugglers are exploiting the open border and the most vulnerable are paying with their lives. Tragically, President Biden and the Democrats will continue to ignore the Biden Crisis at the Border.”
President Biden, after a first message of condolence on Monday, said Tuesday: “My Administration will continue to do everything possible to prevent criminal traffickers from exploiting migrants.”
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