By Kimberly James, WBAP and KLIF News, Dallas, Texas.
MCALLEN, TEXAS – (WBAP/KLIF) – Homeland Security is warning the American public against contracting with criminals with the goal of getting their loved ones or friends guided to the United States. The agency warns increasing numbers of injured and abused migrants are being found abandoned in the deadly summertime heat in the Rio Grande Valley, and it is warning of the deadly dangers of these trips from any and all players along the entire route. Homeland Security is detailing the horrifying ways migrants are often treated by criminals during the journey north. The agency hopes to stop another shocking crime as happened in Texas in June of 2022 – 54 migrants were found dead, locked in a sweltering trailer parked on an abandoned road in a desolate area of San Antonio, Texas.
Homeland Security Deputy Special Agent Mark Lippa tells WBAP and KLIF News much of the money sent to cartels and human traffickers originates in the United States. The money, sadly, does not guarantee any safety for loved ones attempting the migration; assault, abuse, rape, torture; a withholding of food and water and sudden demands for more money to be released from trafficker’s grips can, and often do occur, despite thousands of dollars paid to ferry them to the United States; sometimes, once inside America’s borders.
Murders during or after the unthinkable abuse occur as well. Migrants are often held in “stash houses” at any point on the journey, including across the United States; cell phones, passports, and all methods of communication and control taken from them until new, sudden demands for additional monetary ransom are met. The unexpected demands for thousands of dollars more as the migrants are held prisoner often come with warnings of abuse, torture and death if the money is not provided from relatives, and often, within days. As reported by migrant aid groups in United States border regions and relayed by migrants themselves, the threats are often actualized.
Stash houses for migrants are established in all areas of the United States; from isolated regions to upscale neighborhoods in big cities. Neighbors usually are not aware of what may be happening inside. Migrants housed in these type of holding facilities will usually be ferried in to a structure with a closed garage, so they are not seen while loading and unloading. Windows will be blocked to avoid views inside the house. Also possible, vehicles involved in the ferrying will be different as different players access the structure for as long as it’s utilized. In an upscale neighborhood in Princeton, Texas, this summer, an investigation was launched into a possible stash house combined with what may have been a slavery-type ring; a pest control employee reportedly called to rid the home of bed bugs called police when he found multiple young women in the house, sleeping on blankets on the floor with no furniture, only a bevy of computers on folding tables. Princeton police later reported they found fifteen young women in that house. Investigation into possible forced labor was launched.
Lippa warns “once in the hands of these groups, they are under the control of that human smuggling organization; they are going to tell them where they go, where they stay and how they travel. They are giving up their freedoms to that organization”. A migrant’s journey sadly, but often, relies on decisions made by criminals and criminal groups sharing portions of the travel, as they work within or with cartels advertising “safe, guided, reliable trips” on social media.
Recently a case of horrific migrant abuse was revealed in Juarez, Mexico, just across the border from El Paso, Texas. In late June, 2024, thirteen Central American migrants held for additional extortion were lucky to be rescued from a “stash house”. Authorities reported the migrants had been tortured, burned, forced to drink toilet water, and raped. Two minors were reported among those rescued. Several of those rescued were hospitalized at length. At least two migrants in that stash house are believed to have been murdered. Homeland Security is reported to have provided a tip concerning the crimes, and was reported as working with Chihuahua state police in the rescue of the thirteen. Two women and four men were arrested in connection with the case at the time it was revealed to news media. Tentacles of criminal activity in cases of “stash houses” and human smuggling in all forms reach throughout a migrant’s journey, through all nations traveled.
While abuse, torture and murder are all possible and in fact very likely to occur during migrant journeys, so are deadly threats from weather, exposure and heat. Migrants who cannot keep up through debilitating elements are often left behind on the journey, and alone, to face death. Lippa takes us back to the case of the 54 migrants left to cook to death inside the trailer on an abandoned San Antonio, Texas road; for whatever reason, the trailer was left by the driver in sweltering summertime temperatures, locked shut. Eight children and a pregnant woman were among the victims killed by the human smugglers in this case; victims in this case were reported from Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras, all of whom were simply sought an improved life in the United States.
El Paso-based Hope Border Institute reports three in every five migrants that make it as far north as Juarez, bordering El Paso, Texas, have been tortured, kidnapped or forced into sex trafficking operations by cartels. The shelter and aid group claims to know of four hundred cases of migrants kidnapped with demands family or friends very quickly produce another ransom, often stated to be around $20,000, upon actual or threatened torture or murder.
Homeland Security states the realities of human trafficking that occur daily; Americans who send money to relatives south wishing to come to the United States, or to criminal groups such as cartels advertising a carefree journey on social media, are often unwittingly contributing to providing criminals with more opportunity to harm migrants. Often loved ones are never heard from again, and bodies are often not located even as searches may be undertaken with ongoing citizen efforts inside Mexico; or, in the heat of Texas. If once is too often, then so are the many risks associated with placing a human in the “care” of a criminal aiding illegal entry across borders, and a beloved family or friend simply missing, never to be found along the route.
(Copyright, All Rights Reserved, WBAP/KLIF 2024)