Mexico authorities successfully rescued 31 kidnapped migrants, including women and children, who were abducted over the weekend in the northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, Reuters reports.

The rescue operation was confirmed by Presidential spokesperson Jesus Ramirez via the social media platform X on Wednesday.

"They are already in the hands of the authorities and are undergoing the appropriate medical examinations," Ramirez assured, sharing a photo depicting men, women, and children, including one child clutching a stuffed animal.

Mexican Interior Minister Luisa Alcalde later affirmed the migrants' safety, stating they were "safe and sound," as the state's governor reported.

The kidnapped migrants hailed from Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, Honduras, and Mexico, according to Mexican Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodriguez.

Honduran Foreign Minister Enrique Reina later disclosed that among the rescued were six Hondurans, including three teenage girls, whose statements were currently being recorded by Mexican authorities.

The Colombian consulate in Mexico City also reported that four Colombian nationals were part of the group.

READ NEXT: Mexico Officials Rescue 5 of 31 Kidnapped Migrants 

The Mexico Kidnapping Incident

The kidnapping incident sheds light once again on the perilous migrant route through the Gulf of Mexico, notorious for witnessing heinous acts against migrants, such as the San Fernando massacres in 2010 and 2011.

The Mexico kidnapping occurred on December 30 when an armed group intercepted the migrants' bus with five vans, Pledge Times noted.

The criminals took most of them, leaving only five and the drivers, who promptly alerted the authorities.

Little information is available about the fate of the 31 kidnapped migrants left stranded on a complex border, exposed to criminal groups viewing migrants as lucrative opportunities.

The reasons behind their kidnapping, the specific location of their captivity, and the selective nature of the abduction-why 31 were taken but not the other five-remain unknown.

Rodriguez emphasized the atypical nature of this event, stating, "It is not an issue that is occurring frequently in that area."

Mexico authorities are actively engaged in various investigative actions, including phone monitoring to locate participants, analyzing videos left on the bus, tracking the routes of the kidnapped migrants, and utilizing canine units in multiple locations.

Rodriguez has not confirmed whether the recent rescue of five Venezuelan migrants in the same area is linked to the case of the 31.

Escalating Problems Involving Migrants

This incident comes amid an escalating kidnapping crisis in Tamaulipas, a region bordering the United States, where migrants are frequently targeted for extortion or ransom payments by criminal groups.

The situation has become a focal point for the US, with a record number of migrants traveling through Central America and Mexico to reach the US border, according to Financial Times.

Last week, senior US officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, were discussing the issue with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico City.

Republicans have criticized Democratic efforts to address the border crisis, with Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, and other Republican leaders surveying the situation at the US-Mexico border.

The Senate is attempting to forge a bipartisan agreement to tackle the border crisis, but a deal remains elusive.

The issue has also sparked political tensions between US states, with Texas arranging transportation of migrants to Democratic-led cities.

In the year leading up to September, US authorities recorded a staggering 2.5 million people illegally crossing the southern US border.

Notably, more than half of these migrants are arriving from regions beyond Mexico and northern Central America, according to the Migration Policy Institute's data from 2023.

READ MORE: Mexico: Zapatista Rebels Celebrate 30th Anniversary Drug Cartels 

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

WATCH: 31 migrants abducted from bus near US border - From KTSM 9 NEWS