The crime of human trafficking in Hidalgo recorded a decrease in the number of investigations opened between January and June of this year compared with the same period in 2025, according to the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System.
The Hidalgo State Attorney General’s Office (PGJEH) opened seven investigations for the crime of human trafficking between January and June 2025, while during the same period in 2026 it has recorded only one.
The investigation reported by the Attorney General’s Office to the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System during the first half of this year was opened in the municipality of Mixquiahuala.
In 2020, the Attorney General’s Office recorded nine human trafficking investigations; in 2021 the number increased to 10; in 2022 it rose to 14; in 2023 it remained at 14; in 2024 it decreased to 9; in 2025 there were 8; and between January and June 2026 only one investigation has been opened.
According to Luz María Ramírez Pérez, prosecutor for Gender Crimes and Human Trafficking, the main form of human trafficking in Hidalgo is the exploitation of the prostitution of others.
She explained that this crime is focused on sexual violence, labor exploitation, and forced labor, and pointed out that most victims of human trafficking are women, girls, and adolescent children.
Human trafficking penalties in Hidalgo
The General Law to Prevent, Punish, and Eradicate Crimes Related to Human Trafficking establishes that any intentional act or omission by one or more persons to recruit, lure, transport, transfer, retain, deliver, receive, or harbor one or more individuals for the purpose of exploitation shall be punishable by five to fifteen years in prison and a fine of one thousand to twenty thousand daily penalty units.
Exploitation includes slavery, servitude, the prostitution of others, labor exploitation, forced labor or services, forced begging, the illegal adoption of a person under 18 years of age, forced or servile marriage, organ trafficking, and illegal biomedical experimentation.
The law establishes that anyone who benefits from the exploitation of one or more persons through prostitution, pornography, public or private sexual performances, sex tourism, or any other paid sexual activity by means of deception, physical or psychological violence, abuse of power, taking advantage of a vulnerable situation, serious harm or threats of serious harm, or threats to report a person’s immigration status to authorities shall be punished with 15 to 30 years in prison and a fine of one thousand to thirty thousand daily penalty units.
Source: milenio
