Restoring Human Dignity on the U.S. Southern Border
MARCH 4, 2024
BY BRAD WOLF
In one of the most violent cities in the Western hemisphere, we meet with immigrants in a shelter trying to make their way to safety in the United States. Reynosa, Mexico is just across the border from McAllen, Texas, and currently garners a Level 4 Travel Warning from the U.S. State Department: Do Not Travel. The same as Afghanistan and Iraq.
The drug cartels control Reynosa. The part we are in, the outskirts, the impoverished and desperate part, is not safe for anyone, especially immigrants trying to cross the border. To the drug cartels, immigrants are commodities. Money in human form. We witness scores of people who were trafficked, kidnapped and extorted, the children used as drug mules and the women and men gang raped.
No immigrant gets into Reynosa without likelihood of kidnapping. The Mexican military often works in tandem with the cartels, diverting the immigrants directly into the hands of kidnappers who strip them of all possessions, then torture and hold them for ransom. Families with no money are forced to pool resources to save a loved one.
While we speak with the shelter director, she gets a phone call. A family of five, kidnapped and tortured for 2 1/2 months, was just released after relatives scraped together a ransom. They will arrive shortly.
More:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/03/04/restoring-human-dignity-on-the-u-s-southern-border/