The Phone Call
Clothes and shoes are set out to dry inside a phone booth at a migrant shelter in in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. Sergio Flores/Vice News
At the Mexican immigration offices, David was frazzled and desperate to reach Laura, who lives in the U.S., and was prepared to wire him money so he could get a bus ticket to a safer city nearby. He borrowed the cellphone of a man he said identified himself as an immigration agent and wore the agency’s typical white-shirt uniform. Outside the office, men in a white four-door truck kept an eye on who came and left the building’s parking lot.The man who lent David his phone spoke with Laura, also identifying himself to her as an immigration agent. He told her he would help David and instructed her to send the money directly to his account. David didn’t have a Mexican ID or passport to receive a wire transfer on his own, but the man assured them their money was in safe hands.“Why are they doing this? Why, if Mexico is a place that is so dangerous?”
A group of migrants cross back into Mexico after being sent back under the Migrant Protection Protocols. Sergio Flores/VICE News
Over the course of several days, Laura received up to three calls a day from them, recordings of which VICE News has reviewed. She was passed between an underling and his boss, as they alternately comforted and threatened her while demanding money.“I need you to send me the money as fast as possible, Grandma,” one of the men told her. When she told them there was no way she could pay the extortion fee, they said she didn’t need all the money at once and could start depositing it in pieces. “You’ll get all the money, mother, don’t worry.”“It’s absolutely pointless to go to the police”
Migrants play table tennis at a shelter in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. Sergio Flores/VICE News
The Business of Kidnapping
A shelter in Nuevo Laredo. Sergio Flores/VICE News
A woman washes dishes at a migrant shelter in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. Sergio Flores/VICE News
The Threat
After Laura deposited the money, members of the cartel drove David and his child back to the bus station. They told him the cartel would be watching him from there, that they had people everywhere. Dozens of migrants remained behind, including at least 10 children, he said.“They told me they would kill me if I talked,” he said.He has no idea how he will pursue his asylum claim in the U.S. since the cartel took away his paperwork that allows him to enter the U.S. for a hearing before a judge. But even then, the idea of staying in Mexico until December is untenable.David can’t stop crying, and his young child has stopped talking altogether.“One of the kidnappers told me that the kidneys of my [child] were good for removal,” David said, sobbing so hard he could barely get the words out. “I can’t sleep thinking about it. Every night, I dream about everything that has happened to us.”Cover: Migrants who were returned to Mexico under Migrant Protection Protocols prepare to be taken to a processing center in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. Sergio Flores/VICE NewsDesign and illustrations by Hunter French.“I can’t sleep thinking about it. Every night, I dream about everything that has happened to us”