US News

Cartels offer to smuggle migrants over the US border for $200 each

By
Social Links for MaryAnn Martinez
Published May 25, 2023
Updated May 25, 2023, 5:29 p.m. ET

Cartels are offering to smuggle desperate migrants over the US border for $200 each, The Post has learned.

Thousands of migrants are still arriving at the border with Mexico hoping to get into the US, but since May 11 the government has put new rules in place banning people for five years if they are turned away at the border.

Unsure of their chances, many are waiting, which is where cartels are happy to step in and offer their illegal services.

Venezuelan Migrant Maria Coromoto, traveling with her daughter, said they had walked non-stop for a month to get to the US-Mexico border arriving in Ciudad Juarez six days ago.

She said smugglers frequently approach her and other migrants, offering to show them a hole in the border wall or a tunnel that can be used to sneak into nearby El Paso.

“They said it costs $200, but I don’t have any money,” she said, pointing to the clothes she had been paid to wash in order to buy food for the day. “I’m going to stick to the legal route. I have faith, I have faith everything’s going to work out.”

Maria Coromoto, a recent arrival from Venezuela, washes clothes during the day to make enough money to feed herself.
Maria Coromoto, a recent arrival from Venezuela, washes clothes during the day to make enough money to feed herself. James Keivom

Being smuggled by cartels comes with risks greater than being caught by US agents — they often force migrants to smuggle drugs, kidnap or hold them for ransom, or cut off their fingers if they cannot pay.

Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz claimed earlier this month there were 60,000 migrants in the “immediate border area” on the Mexican side waiting to cross into the US.

Although the number of people attempting to cross the southern border each day has dropped from over 10,000 in the days before the rule change to around 4,000, shelters in Mexico and Customs and Border protection facilities on the US side of the border are still full. In El Paso, they claimed almost 2,500 in custody as of Wednesday.

Although an expected surge at the border hasn’t happened yet, Border Patrol are preparing for it. The Post witnessed a pile of riot gear, including helmets and shields, stacked just feet from the international boundary with Mexico.

The City of Juarez, Mexico-- directly across the border from El Paso, Texas-- opened a shelter for migrants Monday, just feet from the US-Mexico border.
The City of Juarez, Mexico– directly across the border from El Paso, Texas– opened a shelter for migrants Monday, just feet from the US-Mexico border. James Keivom
The shelter lacks running water, forcing migrants to shower outside by water hose.
The shelter lacks running water, forcing migrants to shower outside by water hose. James Keivom

The riot gear is the punctuation mark to recent intelligence immigration officials shared with The Post about how cartels are lying in wait — calculating how to orchestrate a surge of migrants at the border.

“The intel is that they are testing the waters, seeing who’s released into the United States and who is getting deported,” a federal law enforcement source who spoke on condition of anonymity said.

Since May 12, migrants who cross the border illegally are processed under a measure called Title 8. The immigration law means deportation and a five-year ban after the first unauthorized attempt into the country and jail time after a second try.

“No one knows US immigration laws better than the cartels,” a US Border Patrol source said. “They study it and find any loopholes so they can exploit it.”

About 200, mostly Venezuelan migrants, are being fed and housed in the tent facility. The shelter also has police protection and ambulance service.
About 200, mostly Venezuelan migrants, are being fed and housed in the tent facility. The shelter also has police protection and an ambulance service. James Keivom

The number of people sneaking into the country, mostly aided by cartels, is staggering. According to border patrol’s own estimates, 530,000 so called ‘gotaways’ — people known to have entered the country but not been caught — have been recorded since last October. 88 people on the FBI terror watchlist have also been nabbed by border guards in 2023.

Officials in Juarez, the Mexican city across the border from El Paso, had previously claimed as many as 35,000 migrants were amassed there — but one official says the true figure is almost impossible to measure.

“No one really knows how many migrants are here, and anyone who says they know is lying,” explained the City of Juarez Director of Human Rights Santiago Gonzalez Reyes.

The new shelter was opened by Juarez, Mexico officials to keep migrants off the streets in what's becoming an increasingly hostile city for migrants.
The new shelter was opened by Juarez, Mexico officials to keep migrants off the streets in what’s becoming an increasingly hostile city for migrants. James Keivom

“Many migrants don’t want authorities to know they’re here. Also, they come and go, attempting to cross [into El Paso] on any given day — sometimes they get sent back. You’d have to take a census three times a day, and even then, it might not be accurate.”

A new shelter for migrants opened Monday within view of the international border. The Post toured the refuge that held 200 mostly Venezuelan near the Paso Del Norte Port of Entry.

Meanwhile, the City of El Paso is being cautious and extended its city-wide disaster declaration over the migrant crisis.

“We don’t want to pat ourselves on the back because we don’t know the unknown,” Mayor Oscar Leeser said Monday. “We don’t know what’s coming in. We are prepared if the situation does change and we will continue to get prepared.”