Mexican Gangs Could Be Making Up To $250 Million A Year By Abusing And Extorting Migrants

Tens of thousands of Central American migrants are being kidnapped, abused and extorted by Mexican gangs just yards from the United States in a growing racket that may be worth up to $250 million a year. Arriving in ragtag border towns like Reynosa, Mexico's migrant kidnapping capital where police in armored vehicles patrol the streets and daytime shootouts are commonplace, migrants are picked off buses by gangs who federal authorities say are in cahoots with local officials. They are then held captive in small houses packed with dozens of fellow migrants, where they are ransomed for up to $5,000 a head. Women who cannot pay face rape, while men risk beatings and conscription into gang ranks, police say. The kidnapping of Central American migrants, some of the poorest people in the Americas, is not new. But a recent surge in the number of Central American migrants heading for the United States - coupled with successful operations by Mexican security forces to disrupt cartels' drug business - has turned a former sideline into an increasingly important revenue stream for rank and file cartel members...more