A group of 38 foreigners who had apparently been abducted were rescued from a property in the Mexico City metropolitan area, the México state Attorney General’s Office (FGJ) said Tuesday.
In a statement posted to social media, the FGJ said that 38 migrants from Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador, Nepal and India were found at a property in the San Pedro Barrientos neighborhood of Tlalnepantla, a México state municipality that borders northern Mexico City.
The migrants had “presumably” been abducted, the FGJ said.
The National Immigration Institute (INM) and the FGJ located the foreigners, and the operation to rescue them was carried out in coordination with the National Guard and state and municipal police, according to the statement posted to X.
The FGJ also said that one “original” firearm and one “replica” firearm as well as two vehicles and two motorcycles were seized from the Tlalnepantla property, which was secured by authorities.
The rescued persons were placed in the custody of the INM, the FGJ said. No arrests were reported.
Migrants frequently become victims of crime while traveling through Mexico toward the northern border with the United States. Men are sometimes forcibly recruited by organized crime groups, while many female migrants are sexually assaulted.
Rescues of migrants are also frequently reported by authorities, in many cases after groups of foreigners are detected traveling in trucks toward the Mexico-U.S. border. Stories of migrants being abducted in Mexico are also quite common.
In January, federal authorities rescued more than 700 mostly Central American abducted migrants from an abandoned warehouse in Tlaxcala, while 61 Central and South American migrants were rescued in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, earlier the same month.
The presence of undocumented migrants in Mexico rose significantly last year, surpassing by 77% the numbers recorded in 2022, according to the International Organization for Migration. Most enter the country via Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala.
Mexico News Daily
