Department of Homeland Security news release.
EL PASO — Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents assigned to Las Cruces, New Mexico, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, in coordination with Mexican authorities, developed information that led to the June 11 rescue of 13 migrants forcibly held against their will in a stash house where they were beaten, tortured, sexually assaulted and extorted for additional smuggling fees by members of a transnational criminal organization (TCO).
HSI special agents assigned to Las Cruces, New Mexico, and the attaché office in Ciudad Juarez developed information they shared with the government of Mexico’s Secretaria de Seguridad Policia Estatal (SSPE) or Chihuahua State Police, and the Secretaria de la Defensa Nacional (SEDENA), or Mexican Secretariat of National Defense, that assisted in locating the stash house in the town of Anapra, Chihuahua, and with the arrest of six Mexican nationals –– four males and two females –– for kidnapping, assault, sexual assault, weapons and drug charges.
On June 8, two undocumented noncitizens (UNCs) previously held hostage by the TCO members entered the country illegally and turned themselves over to U.S. Border Patrol agents in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, as instructed by their captors. They described to agents how they had been severely beaten and burned on various parts of their body. They also explained that the kidnappers let them go because their families paid a ransom for their release.
The rescued UNCs, from Guatemala and Honduras, suffered the following injuries at the hands of the smugglers: bruising from beatings, burns, broken ribs and ligature marks. Additionally, preliminary investigative efforts revealed that some of the female migrants were victims of sexual assault. The migrants were poorly fed and forced to drink water from the toilet. Further information revealed that the smugglers may have murdered two migrants at the stash house. Mexican authorities are continuing to investigate and attempting to locate the bodies of the two migrants.
“This investigation is a prime example of Homeland Security Investigations’ unwavering commitment to identifying and holding transnational criminal organizations accountable for perpetrating vile and horrific crimes,” said Jason T Stevens, acting special agent in charge of HSI El Paso. “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners –– on both sides of the border –– so that together we can leverage the full force of our governments to protect victims of crime and bring the perpetrators to justice.”
