Mexican Uber drivers linked to people smuggling
Mexican authorities arrested another group of people smugglers with links to Uber at the start of June. Four out of five vehicles attempting to take a group of illegal immigrants from Central American through Mexico towards the Texan border were connected to the ride-hail company and three of the drivers were reportedly listed on the ride-hail company's database; one of whom had been dismissed months ahead of the early June arrest. Uber stated that it held no responsibility but would cooperate with authorities.

Human traffickers have begun to use Uber to shuttle Central American migrants through Mexico to the US border,

On June 10, five vehicles carrying 34 Central American migrants were apprehended while traveling together between the northern Mexican states of Zacatecas and Coahuila, said Segismundo Doguin, a Coahuila state official at the National Migration Institute (INM).

Four of the vehicles were linked to the Uber Technologies Inc platform, Doguin said, but it was unclear whether the human smugglers had hailed the drivers using the Uber app.

The drivers said they weren't the owners of the cars but worked as Uber chauffeurs, he said.

Four vehicles stopped by Mexican officials on the Texan border on June 10 carrying migrants from Central America were linked to the Uber Technologies Inc platform

There has been a sharp rise in the number of Central American children and families trying to reach the United States this year, a hot button issue in the U.S. presidential race.

Republican candidate Donald Trump has vowed to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border to keep them out.

Mexican migration officials attribute the increase to migrants finding new routes past checkpoints, increasingly through varied forms of transport.

'First we saw them on trains, then on buses, then on trucks and today we see them in rented vehicles,' Doguin said.

The drivers left the northern Mexican city of Monterrey and picked up the migrants in Matehuala, 201 miles further south, Doguin said.

The caravan was headed for the city of Reynosa, 342 miles north, on the border with Texas.

The migrants told investigators they each paid 3,000 pesos ($162) to make the journey, Doguin said.

Uber Mexico said in a statement it bore no responsibility, but was cooperating with authorities.

The cars were apprehended while traveling between the northern Mexican states of Zacatecas and Coahuila

'The company does not own the cars registered on the platform, nor does it employ the drivers, who are independent contractors,' Uber said.

Only three of the drivers were registered in the database, Uber said. One of them was dismissed nine months ago for unrelated reasons. The other two were discharged when the INM flagged the situation, the company said.

This is not the first time Uber cars have been used to ferry migrants, Doguin said.