Central American Immigrants Risk Kidnap On Their Way To The Land Of Lou Dobbs

Human rights groups have noted that it is becoming increasingly dangerous for Central American immigrants to make their way through Mexico in order to reach the United States. In fact, Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission says some 9,758 migrants have been kidnapped  between September 2008 and February 2009 while attempting to cross through Mexico and into the United States. 

Many of these Central American immigrants are targeted not because they’re loaded with cash, but because they often travel carrying phone number of people waiting for their arrival in the United States - people who might be willing to pay to have their loved ones make it through their kidnapping ordeal in one piece. 

Recalled one Salvadoran man:

They said that if they did not receive payment, they would take away my kidney afterward and throw me into the river so the big lizards would eat me.

Some of these immigrants are lured to their captor’s by false promises of day jobs that would provide them with a little extra cash to help them on their journeys. Another reason kidnappers target these immigrants - as well as others making a longer trek from South America - is that they are less likely to report their kidnappings for fear of being jailed or deported themselves. 

And, despite just making it onto the pages of the New York Times, these kidnappings are nothing new. You may recall that, exactly one year ago, several residents of a small Mexican town rallied around to support and protect a group of kidnapped Central American migrants who had been tortured in a barricaded home within Rafael Lara Grajales. In that case, and in others, local police were in on the kidnapping:

Complicating the problem, migrants complain that the police are sometimes in league with the kidnappers, rounding up victims and handing them over to kidnappers for a fee. Mexican law enforcement officials acknowledge that some individual officers may be involved in organized crime, but they say the problem is not as widespread as often portrayed and is being combated on a national level.

So it can be seen as a wasted effort for Mexican officials to ask victims of kidnapping to come forward with their stories, as many may rightly feel hesitant about dealing with federal and local authorities. 

Migrants Going North Now Risk Kidnappings [NYT]