Mexican Cartels Controlling Southern Border Endangering Americans, Official Says
Nina Siena / Jan 19 2023, 05:35AM EST
US Mexico Border
US Mexico Border. Photo by: Getty Images/Herika Martinez
Mexican cartels now pose more of a threat to Americans as they smuggle violent criminals hidden among illegal migrants. Even as the U.S. and Mexican governments continue to fight the smuggling of dangerous narcotics into country, these drug cartels have also taken advantage of the lax border policies of the Biden Administration. Yuma County Supervisor Jonathan Lines said this was no longer a political discussion but rather an issue of national security.
According to Fox News, Lines stressed that the situation on the border needed to change and that great effort must be put into taking it back from the control of the cartels. He further pointed out how these cartels have profited through their trafficking operations and emphasized that the situation will worsen over time if nothing is done.
Lines remarked that cartels have utilized the U.S. migrant crisis to their advantage by establishing effective and lucrative smuggling operations to slip through Border Patrol officials. He added that migrants that cannot pay now have cartels helping them cross the border where they offer themselves to smuggle illegal drugs into the country in exchange for passage into the U.S.
A professor at George Mason University said cartels charge migrants wanting to cross the border at the cheapest price of $4,000. One migrant reportedly coughed up $20,000 from a loan to smuggle his two children into the U.S. They were later found dead along with 51 other individuals at the back of an abandoned tractor-trailer in San Antonio. Those who manage to cross are forced by the cartel to work off their debts.
https://www.latintimes.com/mexican-cartels-controlling-southern-border-endangering-americans-official-says-540999
