EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – A Border Patrol encounter with two migrants in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, has led to the rescue of 13 Central Americans who were beaten, tortured, extorted and sexually assaulted in a house in Juarez, Mexico, U.S. officials say.
The two migrants who surrendered to Border Patrol on June 8 said they had been hit and burned in various parts of their bodies by their captors. They also told border agents they had been released after their families paid a ransom in addition to smuggling fees already collected.
Homeland Security Investigations agents in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and in Juarez, Mexico, worked with Mexican authorities to locate the house operated by an unnamed transnational criminal organization. The joint investigation led to Mexican authorities rescuing 13 Hondurans, Guatemalans and Salvadorans from the stash house in the Anapra neighborhood of Juarez, which is just south of the border wall at Sunland Park, New Mexico.
The Central Americans rescued from the home had burns, broken ribs, ligature marks and bruising from beatings. Further investigation revealed that female migrants were victims of sexual assault. The migrants were poorly fed and forced to drink water from a toilet, HSI said.
There were two minors among the migrants and four of them were so badly injured they required hospitalization, according to the Chihuahua Attorney General’s Office.
Chihuahua state police and Mexican soldiers acting on information from HSI arrested four male and two female suspects on kidnapping, sexual assault, drug and weapons charges in the Anapra/Barrio Alto area. Mexican authorities identified them as Jesus Tomas C.S., 24, Oswaldo P.M., 19, Lilia Estefani C.P., 22, and Diana Michell S.V., 20. The other two detainees later were found to be minors,
The suspects allegedly were found in possession of a .45-caliber pistol, a 9mm handgun and an undisclosed amount of marijuana.
Further investigation revealed the kidnappers allegedly murdered two migrants at the home. Mexican authorities are trying to find the two bodies, according to HSI.
“This investigation is a prime example of Homeland Security Investigations’ unwavering commitment to identifying and holding transnational criminal organizations accountable for perpetrating vile and horrific crimes,” said Jason T. Stevens, acting special agent in charge of HSI in El Paso. “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners – on both sides of the border – so that together we can leverage the full force of our governments to protect victims of crime and bring the perpetrators to justice.”
Border agents describe Anapra as a staging point for transnational criminal organizations to smuggle across the border foreign nationals intent on eluding capture in the United States. At least two migrant stash houses in New Mexico have been linked to a group called La Empresa that is known by Mexican authorities to operate in Anapra.
Knowledgeable sources told Border Report the group is suspected in connection with the kidnapping and brutalizing of the Central Americans.