Cartels might start resorting to kidnapping citizens as the flow of migrants dries up as a result of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.
Speaking to Border Report, the leader of a citizen's advisory board in Juarez, Mexico, said recent cases of kidnapping not involving migrants should be considered a "red flag." "That this is happening is not good news for the city," said Guillermo Asiain, a member of the city's nonprofit Mesa de Seguridad y Justicia.
Asiain was referencing a recent report from local media detailing that at least eight citizens had already bene kidnapped for ransom this year in the city. Another report said a businessman was killed after a $40,000 ransom wasn't delivered.
"From our perspective, we read a change in attitude on the part of criminals due to (a decrease in) the migrant flow," Asiain told the outlet. "We will see this in various crimes. We believe this will be one in which organized crime is trying to find different ways to obtain resources that before were easier to obtain due to the migration issue," he added.
The assessment also comes after two U.S. citizens and three migrants were rescued from a house in Juarez after being abducted and held for ransom.
The U.S. citizens had been abducted last Friday outside a popular bar in the city. They were held for three days before being freed by law enforcement. Authorities were tipped off by a witness of the kidnapping, and coordinated the operation with the Secretary of Public Safety and the FBI.
After arriving at the scene, authorities also found three migrants being held at the house: they were a woman from China, one from southeastern Mexico and a man from Guatemala.
The captives showed signs of violence, including attempted strangulation and cuts on the ears, believed to have been inflicted by their kidnappers to pressure their families to pay for their ransom.
Four people were arrested in the context of the operation. Three were in the house and a fourth one after police secured a court order and found him with ransom money on him. They all face kidnapping charges.
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