Mexican Police Rescue 23 Migrants

Twenty-three migrants, including a 14-month-old child, were rescued by police Wednesday after being held hostage for five days by a gang that promised to smuggle them into the United States. Five alleged kidnappers also were arrested. Authorities also seized two loaded Kalashnikov assault rifles, a machete and three cars. The victims, from the central states of Michoacan and the western state of Jalisco, told investigators the suspects approached them Friday and offered to take them into the United States illegally. When the migrants accepted, they were blindfolded, herded into a truck and driven around this gritty border city. They then were brought to a private house in Tijuana that they were told was in the United States, investigators said. Meanwhile, the kidnappers started calling the migrants’ families asking for ransoms. Investigators were tipped off by an anonymous caller, who saw armed people going into the house, said state prosecutor Rogelio Delgado Neri. The migrants were treated for hunger and thirst. Two suffered bruises and scrapes from being confined in such a small space. Thousands of Mexicans hoping to migrate to the United States fall victim each year to unscrupulous smugglers promising safe passage in exchange for large sums of money — only to abandon their clients, often in dangerous desert areas without food, water or shelter. Full Story