policemen of Mexico rescued 23 migrants, mostly Venezuelans, who had been kidnapped on their way to the border with the United States, in an operation in which two men were detained, authorities reported Thursday.
Six other people who had managed to escape from their captors were located after the rescue, which took place on Wednesday in the vicinity of Ciudad Juárez, according to a statement from the Secretary of Public Security of the state of Chihuahua (north), reported AFP.
The migrants had been kidnapped when they were being transported on a bus to Ciudad Juárez, one of the transit points for thousands of undocumented immigrants to the United States, but they were intercepted on the outskirts of that city by armed men who injured the driver and forced them to board. two trucks, according to the official report.
Despite the injuries, the driver managed to flee and notify the authorities, who launched an operation in which two men, ages 23 and 35, were arrested.
Six more migrants who had escaped were later located in the vicinity of the place, the statement added, indicating that among those rescued there are about twenty Venezuelans.
These people were kept under the protection of the Secretary of Security of Chihuahuawithout for the moment having informed about its legal situation.
On their long journey to the United States through Mexico, the migrants face multiple dangers that often cost them their lives, including kidnappings, sexual assaults, abandonment in the middle of the desert and traffic accidents, among others, according to authorities.
Despite this, hundreds of thousands of people try to enter the United States every year without papers, some to request asylum.
According to data from the United States Border Patrol, during fiscal year 2022, which spanned from October 2021 to September 2022, 853 migrants were found dead along the entire 3,169 km border with Mexico.
