Five men charged with kidnapping migrants in Arizona and demanding ransom from relatives

Five people have been charged with kidnapping migrants who had entered the country unlawfully and demanding their families pay a ransom to release them, California officials said. Four of the men have pleaded not guilty after being arraigned, while a fifth remains on the run.

The men, four of them in their 20s and one in his 40s, are accused of taking the migrants in a gas station in Chandler, Arizona last year and moving them all the way to California.

The hostages managed to escape through a second-story bathroom and run to a store, but a kidnapper attempted to catch one of them again, putting the person in a chokehold and punching him in the face.

Three men then allegedly restrained two hostages by "tying their hands" and then transported them to a house, holding them in a room and threatening them with violence if they tried to escape. One victim was then driven to a gas station where their brother paid $11,000 for their release.

"These defendants allegedly preyed upon victims who sought to emigrate to our country by demanding ransom from the victims' families in exchange for their release," U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada of the Central District of California said in a statement.

The men were formally charged with "two counts of conspiracy to commit hostage taking and hostage taking, two counts of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and kidnapping, one count of conspiracy to transport illegal aliens, and two counts of transporting illegal aliens for private financial gain." Four of them are also charged with "two counts of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by extortion and attempted interference with commerce by extortion." Two are jailed without bond and two have been released on bond.

"Human smuggling is a dangerous crime," said United States Attorney Tara McGrath of the Southern District of California. "These defendants will face justice for abusing vulnerable migrants for profit."

If convicted of all charges, each defendant could spend life in federal prison, the statement added.

Migrants often face numerous perils when making their journey to the U.S. Human trafficking rings often kidnap people on both sides of the border, preying on their vulnerable status. Many are also extorted, with a new study showing that Latino immigrants traveling to the United States are extorted $804 in average before reaching the border, costs that have to be added to the large sums often required for smugglers or coyotes to guide them into the country.

"Because the migration journey to the U.S. requires resources (e.g. savings to pay formal and informal migration means), Latinx migrants are especially vulnerable to extortion, theft, human trafficking, and other crimes en route," researchers explained. "Additionally, law enforcement and criminal actors may assume that migrants are vulnerable targets because they are unlikely to report these crimes given varying documentation statuses."