Cuban Immigrants in Mexico Warn of New Type of Extortion Rosalia Quintana - Directorio Cubano
go to original February 25, 2024

Cubans gesture during a protest against the Cuban government in front of the offices of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. (Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters)

Thousands of Cuban migrants are waiting these days for their appointment in Mexico, through the American app CBP One, to enter the United States legally, but there are many dangers lurking. On the hunt for them, and the rest of the Latinos waiting, are the Mexican mafias and drug traffickers.

The migrants themselves are warning of a new form of extortion by criminal gangs. What do they do? Well, they kidnap them and steal their CBP One appointment with Immigration in the United States.

A BBC Mundo report uncovered examples. A family of Venezuelan origin arrived at Quetzalcoatl International Airport in Nuevo Laredo at 1:00 in the afternoon on a day they choose to keep confidential.

They had an appointment scheduled for the following day, at 8:30 a.m., at the immigration station on the Las Americas International Bridge, which connects the city of Nuevo Laredo, in Tamaulipas, with the city of Laredo in Texas. Laura, along with her husband and daughter, were only 13 kilometers away and less than a day away from crossing legally into the United States, when they were forcibly detained.

According to this true account, they were detained coming out of the same airport. "They have to find US$800 per person so they can leave. If you don't give us the money, you don't go to your appointment," they were told. There were about ten people kidnapped, including Cubans, Mexicans, Hondurans, etc.

"For the people who have their fucking appointment: if you don't pay us, unfortunately you are going to lose it and we are going to send you back," the kidnapper added.

These migrants missed their appointment because they did not have anyone to send them the money from the United States and they are still in Mexico waiting for another appointment with CBP One and trying to make sure it is not in Nuevo Laredo. Like them, it has already happened to others, of any nationality.

See the original at Directorio Cubano

Related: Church vs State on Texas/Mexico Border (NewsBreak.com)

This material was translated from Spanish using AI technologies. Errors may exist due to this process.

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