EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – The drug cartels’ fight for control of migrant-smuggling is leading to an increase in homicides in Juarez, Mexico, the mayor of that border city says.
Juarez recorded 106 homicides in June, according to Chihuahua state Public Safety Secretary Gilberto Loya. That was an increase over the 99 murders reported in May and comparable to Tijuana’s 113 homicides during the first 28 days of June.
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“It’s human trafficking that brings more pressure on us in addition to the drug sales and trafficking,” Mayor Cruz Perez Cuellar said this week. “This reduction (in migrant encounters) we’ve had has generated a stronger dispute on that issue, and we’re working on that with other levels of government.”
Migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border have dropped significantly in the past few months and last month reached their lowest levels in three years, according to national news reports .