Busted: Criminal ring behind smuggling of hundreds of Haitian children from Chile to
Busted: Criminal ring behind smuggling of hundreds of Haitian children from Chile to U.S.
Jacqueline Charles
Tue, October 5, 2021, 4:45 PM
An unusual flow of Chilean children of Haitian descent traveling through South and Central America to the U.S.-Mexico border has led to the arrest of nine people suspected of operating an international migrant smuggling ring that used the social media WhatsApp messaging platform to promote their services, INTERPOL said.
The arrests were made last week by Chile’s Criminal Investigations Police along the South American nation’s border with Peru. They are part of a year-long investigation code-named “Frontera Norte,” Northern Border, that was carried out by Chilean police, INTERPOL and law enforcement agencies across South and Central America.
The ring is suspected of smuggling an estimated 1,000 Haitian migrants, including hundreds of children, from Chile, with Mexico or the United States being the final intended destination, the international policing agency INTERPOL said in a release.
“It is horrifying to think what these vulnerable children, some just a few years old, have suffered,” said INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock. “The diligence of the Chilean [law enforcement] in investigating and dismantling this network, with support from other involved countries via INTERPOL shows what law enforcement cooperation can achieve when information is shared.”
Haitian migration has become a problem for Latin America, as Haitian nationals increasingly take a dangerous 7,000-mile trek through South and Central America to reach Mexico and the U.S.
One of the world’s most dangerous migrant routes, it sometimes ends in death and the rape of female travelers. The journey is also costly.
One recently repatriated Haitian migrant said he spent $17,000 to travel from Chile to the border town of Del Rio, Texas, only to be deported back to Port-au-Prince by the U.S.
U.S. authorities say they believe that a criminal organization was behind the recent rush of thousands of Haitian migrants to Del Rio, and are investigating.
Most of the migrants had been living in Chile or Brazil for several years and among them were a number of unaccompanied children, the Department of Homeland Security said.
To date the United States has deported more than 7,000 Haitians from an emptied Del Rio camp to Haiti, while Mexico has also warned Haiti to expect at least two flights a week after sending back more than 70 Haitians last week.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/busted-cr...204533798.html
