While migrant crossings are reportedly down at the United States southern border, violence against asylum-seekers is on the rise, according to Mexican authorities. Police in Chihuahua, Mexico, announced on Monday, Aug. 12, that they have rescued more than 1,200 migrants from criminal gangs over the past seven months.
Law enforcement said that kidnappings, extortion and violence against immigrants trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border is increasing. Abducted migrants are often held in cramped stash houses near the United States border, according to local authorities. Law enforcement said that these migrants are rarely given food or water.
American migrant support nonprofits blame stricter U.S. immigration policy for the increasing violence toward migrants seeking asylum. The Hope Institute said the Biden administration’s order to close the border to asylum-seekers without appointments put many migrants in danger. The institute said that cartels routinely kidnap migrants and demand ransoms from their families — in some cases, up to $20,000.
On Aug. 8, authorities found 10 Sudanese and Moroccan nationals on a highway traveling from Chihuahua to Juarez. The migrants were reportedly released after their families paid a ransom. Police say what migrants want is a better life in the United States, but they are instead falling victim to violent criminals.
The Hope Institute is urging the United States and Mexican governments to change immigration policies to keep migrants safe from gangs. The group has asked for the governments to provide safe migration paths and to place “humanitarian values at the core” of policies. The advocacy group wants the U.S. and Mexico to make it easier for people to seek asylum as well.
The United States Department of Homeland Security issued a warning in July urging asylum-seekers not to rely on human smugglers. Cartels reportedly run human trafficking operations and often leave migrants stranded and malnourished, according to U.S. border agents.
