Police rescue over 60 Mexicans trafficked to Canada

Canadian authorities said Friday they have rescued 64 Mexican nationals who were trafficked to work at farms, factories and warehouses in and around Toronto.

Police also arrested five people in the case and issued warrants for two others still at large. They face more than 40 charges in total, including participation in a criminal gang and human trafficking.

A tip in November 2022 from a Mexican migrant worker about his poor living and working conditions led police and the Canada Border Services Agency to launch an investigation.

What they found after recently raiding five locations, York Regional Police detective Gary McBride told a news conference, were migrant workers "living in deplorable conditions."

This included overcrowding, he said, "with dozens of people sleeping on mattresses on the floor, a lack of food, a lack of privacy and bug infestations."

The victims, men and women in their 20s to 40s, he added, also described "forms of coercion and control, which included isolation, a lack of freedom, being financially bound, threats and sexual assault."

They would be driven to work sites each day in three dilapidated buses and compelled to work long hours for little pay while their exploiters reaped the benefits of their labor, he said.

All had been given false promises about wonderful working and living conditions with excellent pay in Canada.

According to Canada's public safety department, there were more than 3,500 cases of human trafficking reported to police in the decade since 2011. Almost all of the victims were women and girls.

In 2019, police rescued 43 Mexicans, mostly men, duped into immigration scams and forced to work for almost nothing in Canadian hotels as well as live in what authorities had described as "squalid conditions."