Migrants tell of mass kidnappings in Mexico before crossing into the U.S.

Members of the security forces work on a rescue operation of kidnapped migrants, in Ciudad Lerdo, Durando, Mexico in this handout image released December 6, 2022. National Institute for Migration/Handout via REUTERS

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) - Many of the hundreds of migrants who crossed the Rio Grande from Ciudad Juarez into El Paso this week were part of a group kidnapped in Mexico as they made their way to the United States, according to nine migrants interviewed by Reuters.

Testimony from the nine migrants suggests there were multiple kidnappings across several days in the northern state of Durango, with people taken to at least two main locations and held against their will while ransoms were demanded.