In this aerial view, members of law enforcement investigate a tractor trailer in San Antonio, Texas on June 27, 2022. Photo: AFP

On Wednesday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry called on the US to review and correct its bad records on migrant issues, to take measures to protect the human rights of refugees and migrants and prevent tragedies such as that of the Texas migrant deaths from reoccurring. 

At least 51 migrants have died after being trapped inside a sweltering tractor-trailer truck found abandoned in Texas, authorities said on Tuesday, according to Reuters.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at Wednesday's media briefing that this tragedy was heartbreaking, but it was even more regrettable that such tragic deaths of migrants and refugees are not a rare occurrence in the US.

Statistics show that in 2021, the US law enforcement departments processed about 1.7 million encounters with illegal migrants at the US-Mexico border, including 145,000 children, a record high in two decades. The US held immigrants in harsh conditions in immigration detention centers, where they often suffered from abuse, violence and inhumane treatment. Violent law enforcement against immigrants in the US claimed 557 lives in 2021, more than double the previous year, Zhao said. 

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the US, in defiance of the international community, has accelerated the repatriation of thousands of illegal immigrants infected with the virus, which has directly led to a worsening of the epidemic in many Latin American countries, Zhao said.

The US should seriously review and correct its own bad record on the migrant issues, take concrete measures to protect the human rights and basic rights of migrants, and prevent similar tragedies from reoccurring, Zhao said. 



Global Times