Nuevo Laredo unsafe for Mexicans deported from US

World Today

Mexcian city receives most deportees from US in entire country

The Tamaulipas Institute for Migrants said the city of Nuevo Laredo receives more deportees from the United States than any other city in Mexico. Many of these migrants are at risk when the get deported back and are preyed upon by the drug cartels.

CGTN’s Martin Markovits reports.

Pastor Cutberto Ramirez runs a Christian shelter for deported migrants in the Mexican border city of Nuevo Laredo. It’s a tough task in a city that has been overwhelmed by crime and drug cartels and it almost cost him his life.

According to the Tamaulipas Institute for Migrants between January and July of 2016, 45 percent of U.S. deportees arrived in Nuevo Laredo. It has become fertile ground for drug cartel groups trying to extort and recruit these penniless and desperate migrants, who are often dropped off in the middle of the night with no place to go. The Mexican government and religious groups have been working to catch these people before the gangs do.

Just across the border in Mexico, the Tamaulipas Institute for Migrants, has been working with deportees by providing them temporary housing and also giving them money so they can go back to their hometowns and reconnect with their families.

Father Giovanni Visoto comes to the institute twice a day to pick up deported migrants and provides them with shelter. He has been working with Mexican and U.S. officials to improve and coordinate drop off times of deportees on the border, which he said is one of the key problems of this crisis.

Father Visoto worries that the new U.S. administration will deport millions of migrants back to Mexico. He said border cities like Nuevo Laredo won’t be able to handle the massive amount of people arriving to the border.