Mexican leaders announce rescue of 49 kidnapped migrants
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This week, Mexican officials announced that dozens of migrants who had been kidnapped in northern Mexico have been rescued. Migrants making their way to the U.S.-Mexico border are frequent victims of robbery, assault and other crimes.
Forty-nine people — including 11 children — were rescued after being kidnapped by cartel members when their bus stopped at a gas station in the northern state of San Luis Potosi, according to officials.
Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval says police and military operations continue in the area to find additional migrants and two bus drivers who remain missing. So far, no arrests have been made.
It’s the latest in a string of mass abductions reported by Mexican officials in recent months — including several in neighboring Sonora.
Two weeks ago, state prosecutors said they had rescued 135 migrants in the border city of San Luis Rio Colorado after Columbian authorities tipped them off that 10 Columbian migrants had gone missing. In late April, 63 people were found in Sonoyta, just across the border from Lukeville.
Immigration officials have said some migrants rescued from these large-scale kidnapping operations will be offered humanitarian visas. The agency also recently reported that they rescued more than 2,000 migrants abducted in Mexico last year.
But a 2022 report by Mexico’s human rights commission says migrant kidnappings are vastly underreported by immigration officials, and available data does not accurately represent the total numbers of people who are kidnapped or disappeared while migrating through Mexico.
News U.S. immigration policies implemented with the end of Title 42 on May 11 will continue to leave many migrants waiting in Mexico or sent back to the country from the U.S., putting them at risk of being kidnapped, robbed or killed south of the border.
