Migrants in Texas increasingly subject to kidnapping, extortion, other abuse, FBI says

Migrants are increasingly becoming victims of kidnapping, extortion, ransoms and physical abuse in this border region, targeted by local gangs working with major criminal organizations, the FBI said Monday. The groups target each other’s stash houses to force recently arrived foreign nationals to call relatives here or in their home countries so they can send money to their new captors, according to Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey R. Downey. Downey described the gangs as “a little bit of a hybrid. … It is the same group that smuggles them across the border, but we are also seeing … that competitive organizations are also attempting to kidnap their victims, and bring them into their organization to extort family members out of money. So it’s a very complex operation that they’re running, but there are multiple organizations that are out there doing this.”

Relatives of migrants are being asked to pay thousands of dollars for the release of their loved ones. Depending on the originating country — whether Mexico, Central America or beyond — migrants already pay tens of thousands of dollars to smugglers to bring them into the United States. El Paso and communities in surrounding southern New Mexico are now experiencing what is happening in other cities, including Phoenix, related to the increased stash houses and ransom calls. The trend also comes as the number of migrants in the El Paso sector is showing a steady increase, with many coming in large groups as the peak season for migration nears. Last week alone, FBI agents, working in coordination with agents of the U.S. Border Patrol, rescued 24 victims from stash houses in the El Paso area, said Downey, during a virtual news conference Monday. He called the rising number of victims “serious” and a “significant uptick,” adding that since January “upwards of 40? migrants have fallen prey to criminals.