Governador Valadares, Minas Gerais, Brazil, Brazil
The human trafficking ring in question would charge Brazillian emigrants up to $15,000 for false documents and to be smuggled into the U.S. There, members of the gang would abduct the emigrants and demand ransom for them from their families. The U.S. Consulate reported, “They left from Brazil and went initially to Guatemala, from where J.C.'s coyotes (migrant smugglers) guided the clients across Mexico to the border with the United States border.” In some of the cases, migrants were abducted in Texas, and their families were asked for ransoms of up to $10,000. The abducted migrants were often tortured or threatened with mutiliation. Investigations began when J.C. was arrested on charges of forging passports in July 2010. Subsequently, twelve members of the gang were arrested. Ten of those arrests took place in Governador Valadares.