Mexico’s migration commissioner, Salvador Beltran del Rio, recently said that there has been a reduction in the number of Central Americans being apprehended in Mexico. The number has fallen from 433,000 in 2005 to 140,000 in 2010. Many of them have said that they are no longer willing to risk their lives, as drug trafficking organization have become increasingly involved in human smuggling.
In August 2010, 72 migrants, mostly from Central America, were found murdered in a mass grave in the northern state of Tamaulipas, reportedly for refusing to work for a drug gang. Many migrants, both from Mexico and beyond, have gone missing in their northward treks toward the US, a powerful incentive to stay home.