Man kidnapped, murdered, dismembered
The 35-year-old man from central American El Salvador sought asylum in the US. As per a Trump policy initiative called 'Migrant Protection Protocols', those seeking asylum are required to wait in border towns for the court proceedings, which often take months to conclude.
Consequently, the Salvadoran man, whose name remains anonymous for safety reasons, was in the US-Mexican border town Tijuana for four months, awaiting US asylum trial. He found a job at a pizzeria and lived in Tijuana with his wife and two children.
He was kidnapped and murdered on November 20, Reuters reported. The man was stabbed in the neck, chest, and abdomen, according to a death certificate. Mexican authorities said the man was "dismembered" and they are investigating the circumstances surrounding his death.
"They kidnapped my husband, he disappeared and unfortunately when I found him he was dead," said his wife.
About Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP)
MPP, effected in January, requires US asylum-seekers entering through Mexico to wait in border towns during the course of their court proceedings, which often take months to conclude. Since January, 54,000 migrants, mostly from poor and violence-plagued countries of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, have been sent to wait in Mexico for their US immigration court hearings.
Crime rates run high in these border towns. A report released last week by the New York City-based organization Human Rights First found at least 636 publicly reported cases of kidnapping, rape, torture, assault, and other violent attacks against migrants sent to Mexico under the program.
US forces thousands of asylum-seekers to live in high crime rate border towns
In August, a cartel threatened the pastor in charge of the border city of Nuevo Laredo, to hand over a group of Cubans, as ransom. He was kidnapped as he refused to do so and no one has heard from him, since. In September, a group of asylum-seekers were kidnapped by the cartel, just a few hours to their entry in Mexico.
US forces thousands of asylum-seekers, including babies and toddlers, to live in high crime rate border towns. Interestingly, it advises its own citizens not to travel to those regions, due to the high crime rate.
