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It's a girl! Migrants help woman give birth inside bus at Mexico checkpoint

"(The woman) gave birth with the help of those that traveled with her, who cut the umbilical cord," Mexico’s National Immigration Institute (INM) said in a statement

Bus of migrants
Bus of migrants | Shutterstock

June 27, 2023 9:06am

Updated: June 27, 2023 9:06am

A woman gave birth to a newborn baby girl in a bus full of undocumented migrants at a checkpoint in southeastern Mexico on Monday, authorities reported. 

"(The woman) gave birth with the help of those that traveled with her, who cut the umbilical cord," Mexico’s National Immigration Institute (INM) said in a statement. 

"We helped the lady and told her to push so (the baby) would come out," one of the migrants onboard the bus said. "Then we gave our sweaters... She kept asking about the baby. You could see she was scared."

The Guatemalan mother and her newborn baby girl were taken to a hospital after the birth. The woman, her newborn, and two family members were found to be suffering from dehydration and heat exhaustion.

The bus was stopped by Mexican authorities at an inspection point in the state of Veracruz. With the support of the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena), the INM agents conducted the corresponding interviews with the occupants of the bus and detained 141 undocumented migrants that were making their way to the U.S-Mexico border.

The group included 138 Guatemalans, 101 of whom were traveling in families and 25 who were unaccompanied minors, the INM said in the statement. One unaccompanied minor and two adults said they were from Honduras. 

The bus driver was handed over to the corresponding authorities to be processed accordingly, while the families, children, and adolescents traveling in the bus were handed over to the System for the Comprehensive Development of the Family (DIF).

The report of the birth comes as Mexican authorities detained a truck in the same state transporting 130 Guatemalan migrants, 19 of which were reportedly unaccompanied minors.