Human traffickers kidnap around 100 migrant caravan members – Mexican officials

Around 100 members of a refugee and migrant caravan traveling towards the US have reportedly fallen victim to organized crime as they moved through Mexico, the Independent reports. Thousands sought shelter in a sports stadium in Mexico City on Monday on the eve of the US midterm elections. US President Donald Trump had repeatedly warned about the advancing caravan and ordered thousands of troops to the border. However, around 100 members, including children, were kidnapped along the route and handed to organized crime groups, Arturo Peimbert, ombudsman for the human rights commission in Oaxaca, told HuffPost Mexico. Peimbert said they were kidnapped in the state of Puebla as they attempted to reach the capital from Veracruz. He said the federal government had put “strong pressure” on transport companies along the caravan route not to pick up the migrants, forcing them to walk through an area “where hundreds of people have disappeared,” he said.