Immigrants into Mexico face extreme perils:
Migrants Fall Prey to Mexican Gangs on Way to the U.S.
Kidnapping Central American and Mexican immigrants is one of the latest rackets of Mexican organized-crime groups, which are expanding beyond drugs into pirated DVDs, illegal alcohol sales and business extortion.
Just this year, more than 4,000 immigrants have been rescued by the Mexican army and federal police from their captors, according to government statistics. Because authorities say only a fraction of those kidnapped are ever rescued, the figures suggest that gangs kidnap tens of thousands of migrants each year.
The victims, almost always headed to the U.S., are captured by gangs where they are ransomed back to relatives, forcibly recruited as workers or sometimes sold into prostitution.
According to the article, the going rate for a coyote is $2,000; the immigrants are totally under their power. Additionally, the endemic corruption in Mexico’s institutions also makes the immigrants vulnerable to abuse by the authorities themselves.
The victims won’t report the crimes,
in addition to corruption, agencies charged to protect immigrants tend to avoid responsibility for taking cases
and the prosecutors don’t prosecute.
