Human trafficking
January 19, 2021
"Human Trafficking is a Global Problem" / Steven Depolo / Hungry Kids / CC BY 3.0
Throughout Mexico, immigrant children face the threat of being captured by human traffickers who prey on vulnerable targets, such as unaccompanied minors.
Not only do immigrants face threats from immigration officials and the military, but human trafficking in Mexico poses an existential threat to migrants originating from the Northern Triangle. The vast majority of migrants and foreign victims of forced labor and sex trafficking in Mexico are from Central and South America, particularly El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Venezuela, according to the U.S. Department of State. In Nuevo Laredo, Mexico — located across the U.S.-Mexico border from Laredo, Texas — almost 80% of migrants treated by Medecins Sans Frontieres (also known as Doctors Without Borders) in the first nine months of 2019 said they had been victims of violence, including human trafficking, according to Reuters.