The business of human trafficking has become one of the most lucrative and ruthless illicit industries on the continent.Recent operations coordinated by security authorities in Mexican territory have allowed the dismantling of cells dedicated to irregular transport and overcrowding of foreign migrants who paid exorbitant fees with the promise of crossing into the United States.
Overcharging and subhuman conditions
Court investigations reveal that per-person charges frequently exceed $10,000 to as much as $15,000, depending on the country of origin and the purported “guarantee” of income. Far from the promises of so-called traffickers or ‘polleros’, migrants are subjected to forced lockdowns in safe houses, transfers in unventilated trailer boxes and, in many cases, to additional extortion of their relatives in the US.
“Dismantling trafficking leaders is an urgent step, but as long as there are no real options for asylum and work visas, the networks are simply reconfigured with greater violence.”
— Collectives to Support Migrants in Transit
Priority protection for victims
Human rights organizations have reiterated the need for security operations not to criminalize rescued people, but to provide them with immediate medical care, psychological accompaniment and expeditious access to protection and humanitarian regularization mechanisms.
