Returned Migrants Are Targets for Abuse, Violence in Mexico After Being Denied Entry to U.S.

By Mary Webber First Posted: May 17, 2021 11:48 PM EDT

Returned migrants, who were barred from entering the United States, are the latest target of violence and abuse in Mexico.

The migrants are being returned to Reynosa, which is considered one of the most dangerous cities in Mexico. Several Central American women said that thousands of dollars they paid to ensure passage to the U.S. border had disappeared upon arrival, NBC News reported.

The Biden administration has returned them to Mexico in a matter of hours under Title 42, which seeks to block the entry of migrants to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S.

These returned migrants continue to apply to single adults and most migrant families. The U.S. had encountered almost 112,000 expulsions in April alone.

One of the returned migrants, Maribel, 47, said she has already been a victim of abuses and violence upon her return.

In her hotel room in Reynosa, she detailed how she and her teenage son were kidnapped for five days, and the suspects took their phones and money.

Maribel said the kidnappers, via the coyote who had helped them reached north, had contacted her family in El Salvador. They asked for a $3,000 ransom to release them directly into the river that separates Mexico from the U.S.

She said they then threw them into the river "for nothing" as the U.S. immigration sent them back. Maribel now shares a tent in Reynosa's main square with her son and 10 other people.

Abuses Against Returned Migrants

Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that asylum seekers sent to Mexico had suffered violence and extortion by Mexican police, immigration agents, and criminal groups.

The U.S. has effectively closed its southern border to asylum seekers since January 2019. Former president Donald Trump has imposed Remain in Mexico program, and more than 71,000 asylum seekers have been sent back to Mexico to wait for their asylum hearings, HRW reported.

The U.S. has also started expelling migrants more than 400,000 times since March 2020 under travel restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at HRW, said the U.S. and Mexican governments had abandoned migrant families to suffer extortion and violence in Mexico.

President Joe Biden had suspended new enrollments for asylum seekers under the Remain in Mexico policy when he took office. He then allowed the 25,000 asylum seekers to begin signing up to receive a date to enter the U.S.

Remain in Mexico Program

In February, a United Nations (UN) official said that a group of 25 asylum seekers was allowed into the U.S. It started the efforts to undo the Trump administration's most restrictive immigration policy, which had forced many migrants to wait in Mexico.

The U.S. government had earlier expressed interest in funding flights that would bring back certain people blocked by Trump policy, Reuters reported.

During his campaign, Biden has vowed to end the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), also known as the Remain in Mexico program, which is a policy that denied entry to more than 65,000 who are mostly Central American asylum seekers.

Dana Graber Ladek, chief of mission for the UN's International Organization for Migration in Mexico, said in February that the U.S. and the UN are reviewing the locations of migrants and costs related to possible flights and land transportation within Mexico.

WATCH: Migrants Returned to Mexico Describe Harsh Treatment by U.S. - From Doctors Without Borders / MSF-USA