Last week, the Mexican government conducted a rescue of 32 migrants of distinct nationalities in the Tamaulipas.

Presidential Oversight

In remarks during his daily January 5th meeting, the president of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, discussed the issue in a press conference where he detailed day to day details of how the Mexican security cabinet meets from 6AM to 7AM in the presidential palace. The president detailed the context of how security issues are resolved amongst the different federal and executive level secretaries of the Mexican government while noting that these continue to be executed per the demands of the grave security concern in the country.

Kidnapping

In the night of December 30, 2024, five trucks filled with armed men intercepted a commercial transport bus in the violent border state of Tamaulipas. The kidnapping appears to be targeted at individuals looking to cross towards the US-Mexico border. The proven rationale is that their family members awaiting their arrival would likely pay the ransom. In many cases, family members did pay the ransom for a few individuals. Additionally, many bandits in the region hope to consolidate control over who gets to transport and cross individuals through clandestine means.

Most troublesome is the presence of 8 underage girls and 3 young boys.

Immediately after the kidnapping, the driver of the bus alerted authorities as to the abduction of these amount of people. Almost immediately, Mexican Army, National Guard Gendarmerie operatives and state police were deployed to likely and speculated whereabouts of the kidnapping victims. The mere act of deploying federal forces may have deterred the worst consequences.

Eventually, they were found in the municipality of Rio Bravo aboard yet another bus alongside the road. Curiously, the state authorities were among the first to receive the tip of their whereabouts, but the migrants testimony seems to indicate that the deployment of federal forces was what triggered their release.

The Mexican government has continued to caution that the kidnapping of these individuals is a consequence of them traveling without any kind of residency or intent to remain within Mexico.