Crimes against migrants are rising despite lower amount of people traveling north

SEATTLE - The number of migrants making their way towards the U.S.-Mexico border either in caravans or in small groups has decreases considerably between January and July of 2024.

However, according to Chihuahua's Public Security of the State agency (SSPE), there has been a spike in crimes against those traveling towards the U.S.-Mexico border.

The report shows that in the first seven months of 2024, the agency has contributed to the rescue of 1,245 people that were held hostage or kidnapped thanks to joint operations coordinated with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

SSPE Secretary Gilberto Loya Chávez also mentioned Mexican and American agencies worked together in two operations in early August with this purpose: one of them included a group of 10 people from Sudan and Morocco near the region of El Sueco, in the northern part of the state.

The other one took place in Ciudad Juárez, where five people from Guatemala and Nicaragua were rescued in the municipality of Felipe Ángeles. Loya Chávez said that the group encountered by agents were dehydrated and malnourished.

He also mentioned that the SSPE report documented 87 arrests, including 35 individuals charged with human trafficking, 19 guilty of kidnappings and two for attempted murder.

"Sadly, migrants moving along this route have to face organized crime groups, which then take advantage of the lack of laws that can let us act in faster and better ways," said Loya Chávez.

But the state of Chihuahua is not the only border state facing a spike in crimes against migrants. Earlier this year, the state of Tamaulipas, which neighbors Texas in the Rio Grande Valley has also reported a notable increase in kidnapping and extortion cases since late 2023.

Interviews conducted by WOLA from February to early March 2024 show that the Texas-Tamaulipas border, particularly the Rio Grande Valley, has become a particularly perilous route for migrants seeking entry into the United States. So much so that Tamaulipas bears a "level four—do not travel" designation from the State Department, akin to Afghanistan's danger level.