7,326 Human Trafficking Victims Were Rescued in Mexico in 2021

On Wednesday, Mexico's Interior Secretary informed that the National Migration Institute (INM) and Interpol rescued 7,329 victims of crimes related to human trafficking during 2021

RELATED:

Migrants Leaving Lebanon Denounced Greek Authorities Abuse

By coordinating their actions, these institutions carried out three major joint operations: Itzel II, Liberterra, and Turquesa III. As a result, authorities managed to detect and assist men and women who had been detained by criminals.

"Human trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of people through force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them for profit," according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

"Men, women and children of all ages and from all backgrounds can become victims of this crime, which occurs in every region of the world," it added.

Besides those three joint operations, the Interior Ministry reported that 13,663 verification visits and 23,574 reviews were carried out as part of the migratory tasks. Around 2,100 federal immigration agents were also trained in the identification of victims of human trafficking and smuggling.

In recent years, migratory flows to the United States have increased dramatically. In FY 2021, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) detected over 1.7 million illegal immigrants on the border with Mexico.

Between January and September 2021, Mexico also intercepted over 252,000 undocumented migrants and deported over 100,000 migrants. In that same period, the Mexican Commission for Refugee Aid received a record of 131,488 refugee applications in 2021.