Mexican Border : Rising Wave of Migrant Sexual Assaults

Mexican Border : In late May, Carolina, a young Venezuelan migrant seeking a better life in the United States, endured a horrific ordeal that would forever scar her.

When her captors arrived at dawn to pull her out of a stash house in the Mexican border city of Reynosa, she initially thought they were going to force her to make another desperate call to her family for a $2,000 ransom. However, what followed was a nightmare that no one should ever have to endure.

Instead of making her ransom call, one of the men callously shoved Carolina onto a broken-down bus parked outside and subjected her to a brutal sexual assault. The pain and trauma she experienced left her deeply scarred. “It’s the saddest, most horrible thing that can happen to a person,” Carolina said.

A migrant advocate, who spoke to Reuters on the condition of anonymity due to security concerns, corroborated every detail of Carolina’s harrowing account. Unfortunately, her ordeal is not an isolated incident.

Mexican border sexual Harassment viral

Recent data from the Mexican government and humanitarian groups, along with interviews with eight sexual assault survivors and more than a dozen local aid workers, reveal a distressing trend of sexual violence against migrants in the border cities of Reynosa and Matamoros, both major transit routes for immigrants seeking entry into the U.S by Mexican Border.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson Luis Miranda expressed grave concern about this rising tide of reported rapes, stating, “The inhumane way smugglers abuse, extort, and perpetrate violence against migrants for profit is criminal and morally reprehensible.”

Disturbingly, criminal investigations into the rape of foreign nationals at Mexican Border (excluding Americans) have reached record highs in these two cities this year, according to state data from 2014 to 2023 obtained by Reuters through freedom of information requests.

Tamaulipas, the Mexican state where Reynosa and Matamoros are situated, is regarded by the U.S. State Department as the most perilous state along the U.S. Mexican Border.

The escalating violence against migrants in these border cities is linked to a significant policy shift initiated by the Biden administration in May. This new system requires migrants to secure appointments via the CBP One app to present themselves at a legal Mexican border crossing in order to enter the United States.

However, experts, including lawyers, medical professionals, and aid workers, contend that this new system has had unintended consequences, exacerbating violence in Reynosa and Matamoros. The high risk of kidnapping and sexual assault is compelling migrants to choose illegal Mexican border crossings, a trend that has spiked significantly in recent months.

Biden administration officials argue that the CBP policy is more humane, as it reduces migrants’ reliance on smugglers and criminal groups to facilitate illegal Mexican border crossings. Instead, many asylum seekers now attempt to reach the border independently, hoping to secure an appointment on the app.

Unfortunately, criminal groups operating in the region are still demanding extortionate fees from these vulnerable migrants for safe passage. As Bertha Bermúdez Tapia, a sociologist at New Mexico State University, explained, “Rape is part of the torture process to get the money.”

The Gulf Cartel and the Northeast Cartel, both active in the area, are known to kidnap migrants for ransom, especially those who arrive without smugglers’ protection. Despite attempts to contact these criminal groups, Reuters was unable to establish communication.

Compounding the issue is the extended waiting period some migrants endure in these dangerous regions while attempting to secure an appointment on the CBP One app. With tens of thousands of people competing for only 1,450 daily slots, the situation remains dire.

A senior CBP official based in Washington expressed deep concern about reports of migrants being sexually assaulted in Reynosa and Matamoros. “It’s absolutely something that we’re concerned about,” the official stated, requesting anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the issue.

While U.S. authorities temporarily suspended CBP One appointments in June in Nuevo Laredo, another Tamaulipas border city, due to extortion and kidnapping concerns, DHS spokesperson Miranda emphasized that the administration’s policies allow migrants to book appointments from other parts of Central and North Mexican Border.

Despite these challenges, more than 250,000 migrants have successfully scheduled appointments on the CBP One app, with over 200,000 individuals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela entering the United States by air under a separate humanitarian program initiated by the Biden administration, according to CBP statistics.

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