Kidnapping, rape, murder, sex trafficking, child labor: How cartels treat the youngest migrants

Children are stolen from families south of the border and become unaccompanied alien children in the U.S. The government sends them to communities across the country, where a grim fate often awaits: occasionally sex trafficking, but usually forced labor. He said cartels place operatives inside migrant groups or at shelters along the way. Those operatives look for migrants who can be robbed or kidnapped...

“The cartels are exploiting this by having children placed with sponsors who exploit the children for profit,” Mr. Sadulski said.

He is scheduled to appear before a Republican Senate roundtable on Tuesday to talk about his findings.

Mr. Sadulski recently completed a border trip, including a shelter visit in McAllen, Texas. The facility’s staff told him one woman refused to let go of her child. When pressed, she told the staffers the child was all she had left.

“She explained that en route to the southwest border, just south of Reynosa, Mexico, she was robbed by the Sinaloa cartel. Not only were all of her belongings taken from her, but so were her other two children because she had no money for bribes,” Mr. Sadulski said.

...Mr. Sadulski underscored the centrality of the cartels to the smuggling economy and their ruthless approach to those they bring north.

He said cartels place operatives inside migrant groups or at shelters along the way. Those operatives look for migrants who can be robbed or kidnapped...more