Mexican Babies Might Have Been Sold for Up to $20,000 to American Couples Duncan Tucker - VICE News
go to original October 1, 2015

A cross-border baby trafficking ring allegedly operated by welfare officials in northern Mexico — and then covered up by state prosecutors — is highlighting the issue of human trafficking in the country.

The infant trafficking ring reportedly involved officials from the Sonora state child welfare agency using their access to vulnerable single mothers to obtain babies they then sold in Mexico for up to 150,000 pesos, or $8,875. Babies were also allegedly sold in the United States for up to $20,000.

With the investigation inching along, the authorities arrested several people in Mexico accused of illegally adopting babies in the scam, but released them soon after and returned to their care the children they allegedly bought.

Human trafficking is a well-established branch of organized criminal activity in Mexico, though it tends to get little attention amid the dramatic threats to governance represented by drug cartels.

Some towns in the small central state of Tlaxcala are famed as bases for family run forced prostitution networks in which fathers teach their sons how to ensnare young vulnerable women into their rings with promises of love and marriage. Some Mexican beach resorts are also well-known hubs for child prostitution and pornography.

Adoption rackets, however, are less known. The ring in Sonora is particularly shocking given the alleged key role played by public officials supposed to be protecting children.

Read the rest at VICE News

Photo: James H. Karales/Getty

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