Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian hosted a regular press conference on the 29th.
A reporter asked: According to reports, on the 27th local time, an illegal immigrant death incident occurred in San Antonio, Texas, USA, killing at least 50 people. The Office of the United Nations Secretary-General also issued a statement expressing sadness. What is China's comment?
Zhao Lijian: I have also noticed relevant reports. This tragedy is heartbreaking. What is even more regrettable is that this tragic death of refugee immigrants is not accidental in the United States.
Data shows that in fiscal year 2021, U.S. law enforcement agencies arrested approximately 1.7 million illegal immigrants at the border between the United States and Mexico, setting a record high in 20 years, including 145,000 children. The United States holds immigrants in appalling conditions in immigration detention centers, where they often suffer abuse, violence, and inhumane treatment. In fiscal year 2021, the United States’ violent enforcement of immigration took the lives of 557 people, more than double the number in the previous fiscal year. Against the background of the epidemic, the United States has stepped up its efforts to repatriate thousands of illegal immigrants infected with the new coronavirus, despite opposition from the international community. This has directly caused the epidemic to intensify in many Latin American countries.
The United States should seriously examine and correct its own deplorable record on the refugee issue, take concrete measures to protect the human rights and basic rights of refugees, and prevent similar tragedies from happening again.
previously reported:
On June 27, law enforcement officers found 46 bodies in and near a tractor-trailer truck in southwest San Antonio, and 16 others were sent to the hospital for treatment.
Officials in San Antonio, Texas, USA said on the 28th that the death toll from the immigration truck incident that occurred there on the 27th had risen to 51.
The Associated Press 28 quoted Judge Nelson Wolff of Beale County where the incident occurred as saying that five more people later died in the hospital. Craig Larrabee, the official responsible for investigating the case at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security , said that this was the deadliest human smuggling case in U.S. history.
On June 27, local time, an immigration tragedy occurred in San Antonio, Texas, USA.
CNN reported that Beale County official Rebecca Clay-Flores said on the 28th that the dead included 39 men and 12 women. As of that day, at least 34 of the deceased had been identified. According to Flores, some of the deceased were under the age of 18. Mexican Foreign Minister Ebrard said on social platforms that 22 of the dead have been confirmed to be from Mexico, 7 from Guatemala, and 2 from Honduras.
In response to the death of a Texas immigrant on the 27th, US President Biden issued a statement on the 28th, saying that this tragedy of life was "terrible and heartbreaking" and that the United States will intensify its crackdown on human smuggling in the next few months. intensity.
U.S. law enforcement officers discovered the remains of 46 immigrants in a large truck in San Antonio, Texas on the 27th. The death toll in the incident has now risen to 51. It is one of the deadliest immigrant deaths in the United States in recent years.
Source: China News Service
