Mexico detains suspects in death of migration agent near U.S. border

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico -Three suspects were arrested on Monday in the death of a Mexican migration agent who was found earlier in the day with no signs of life, state security and migration officials said.

The death of the agent marked a rare case of deadly violence against agents weeks before an expected crackdown on immigration once U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

State investigators confirmed that the migration agent suffered a head injury and was found with no vital signs. His body also showed "signs of violence," according to a statement from public security officials with northern Chihuahua state.

The statement said that two Venezuelan men had been taken into custody.

Mexican migration agency INM said in a separate statement that a third suspect, a Colombian national, was also detained.

The slain agent was attacked at a checkpoint just south of Ciudad Juarez, which is across the border from the U.S. city of El Paso, Texas, when he asked an unspecified number of foreign nationals for their identification documents, according to INM.

The death of the migration official comes as would-be migrants await an expected tightening on entry to the United States once Trump takes office on Jan. 20.

Hundreds of U.S.-bound migrants waited in long lines outside an immigration office in southern Mexico on Monday, hoping to secure safe passage north and enter the U.S. legally before Trump returns to power.

(Reporting by Jose Luis Gonzalez and Diego Ore; Editing by David Alire Garcia and Leslie Adler)