CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — Mexican authorities rescued a 9-year-old boy from Honduras who was being held for ransom by members of a transnational criminal organization in the border town south of El Paso, Texas, on Aug. 2.
U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) agents in El Paso and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) El Paso developed information about the kidnapping case and shared it with HSI Ciudad Juarez special agents who worked with the Fiscalia General del Estado, the state anti-kidnapping unit in Ciudad Juarez, to locate and rescue the child. The child’s mother had been separated from her son at a stash house in Ciudad Juarez while waiting to be smuggled into the United States through El Paso.
On July 27, the mother entered the country illegally and USBP agents detained her in El Paso. Meanwhile, the boy’s kidnappers began demanding money from the boy’s relatives in Kansas City, Kansas.
On Aug. 1, agents with the Chihuahua anti-kidnapping unit interviewed one of the beneficiaries of the money wires being sent from Kansas to Ciudad Juarez. The next day, the kidnappers abandoned the boy at a Ciudad Juarez municipal police station. No arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing. Mexican authorities plan to make arrangements to remove the boy to his country of origin.
“The success of this case and the safe return of an innocent child highlights the importance of the work we do in conjunction with the excellent relationships we’ve cultivated with the U.S. Border Patrol and our Mexican partners to protect a vulnerable population that unscrupulous human smugglers exploit,” said HSI El Paso Special Agent in Charge Jason T. Stevens. “Rest assured, HSI will continue to utilize our broad range of authority and international footprint to try to target domestic and transnational criminal organizations engaged in human smuggling operations on the Southwest border.”
“This rescue stands as a testament to the determination, teamwork, and dedication of our agents and partners. We will do everything in our power to ensure the safety of children,” said USBP El Paso Sector Chief Patrol Agent Anthony “Scott” Good.
HSI is the principal investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), responsible for investigating transnational crime and threats, specifically those criminal organizations that exploit the global infrastructure through which international trade, travel and finance move. HSI’s workforce consists of over 10,000 employees, assigned to 235 offices within the United States and 93 overseas locations in 56 countries. HSI's international presence represents DHS’s largest investigative law enforcement presence abroad and one of the largest international footprints in U.S. law enforcement.
