{"id":308570,"date":"2024-08-28T19:56:57","date_gmt":"2024-08-28T23:56:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncuba.news\/en\/?p=308570"},"modified":"2024-08-28T20:09:41","modified_gmt":"2024-08-29T00:09:41","slug":"the-border-of-the-american-dream-mafia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/digital-channel\/gallery\/the-border-of-the-american-dream-mafia\/","title":{"rendered":"The border of the American dream: Mafia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Coyotes<\/em> or polleros<\/em>. This is how the go-betweens who facilitate the crossing are known, and they offer routes and services to reach the United States territory from different points on the American continent. However, for some years now it has been known that the business of illicit human trafficking has been taken over by drug cartels and other transnational criminal organizations, who take advantage of the desperation of those who are willing to do anything to reach the other side of the border.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes it is more profitable to transport people to the United States than drugs,\u201d says a spokesman for the Border Patrol, emphasizing how <\/span>human trafficking provides high profits<\/span><\/a> for organized crime. While drug trafficking involves high costs in raw materials, transportation and bribes, migrants do not represent an initial investment and can also be exploited repeatedly during the journey.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A Border Patrol helicopter patrols in the desert near the border fence. Photo: Kaloian.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of the reasons for the rise in this criminal activity is the growing number of migrants seeking to cross the border. Cartels control the border areas between Mexico and the United States, while coyotes organize the first part of the journey. Once in cartel-controlled territory, these go-betweens work for them or pay to be able to cross with the group of migrants.<\/span><\/p>\n

The cost of these services varies between $5,000 and $15,000, depending on the distance and the route chosen. The \u201cVIP\u201d routes offer greater comfort and security, but the price can exceed $20,000, adding tolls and even ransoms.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many migrants sell everything they have or go into debt to finance a journey that offers few or no guarantees; a journey that, even once completed, is not synonymous with remaining in the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The banks of the Rio Bravo, on the Mexican side. Many of the people who pose as fishers are lookouts for the cartels. Photo: Kaloian.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Those who fall into the human trafficking networks are usually locked up in \u201csafe houses,\u201d where overcrowding and lack of food are common. They are forced to contact relatives to ask for different amounts of money in exchange for their release \u2014 or their life. If they cannot raise it, the gangs extort them from a distance, whether they are in the country of origin or the destination, the United States. In some cases, women are raped as a form of payment.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Remains of an inflatable raft on the Rio Grande used by coyotes to smuggle migrants to the United States side. Photo: Kaloian.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the Rio Grande Valley, the Gulf Cartel has controlled organized crime for more than a century. According to Gloria Chavez, head of the Border Patrol in the region, these criminal groups regulate the movement of undocumented migrants and determine who crosses and when. They not only establish the routes: they also dictate the conditions of the crossing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCriminal organizations are well equipped technologically. They even use drones to monitor the movements of the Border Patrol,\u201d said Chavez, the highest-ranking woman in the entity she represents.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Gloria Chavez, head of the Border Patrol in the Rio Grande Valley sector. Photo: Kaloian.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the Rancho de Anapra settlement, Ciudad Juarez, coyotes are known as polleros. In this town, one of the poorest and with the highest crime rate in the country, the famous \u201cwall\u201d borders Sunland Park, in New Mexico, United States. The fence literally opens onto the backyard of many precarious houses.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Behind the imposing fence stands the town of Anapra, one of the poorest in Mexico and where drug cartels operate that also engage in migrant trafficking. Photo: Kaloian.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Anapra, which means the National Association of Agricultural Producers, the immense fence of up to 9-meter-high metal frames is interrupted. A mountain range begins whose highest peak has a statue of Christ the King. From there you can see the lights of El Paso, in Texas, some settlements in New Mexico, and Ciudad Ju\u00e1rez, in Chihuahua, Mexico.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Improvised path made by coyotes in the middle of the jungle on the United States side, on the banks of the Rio Grande. Photo: Kaloian.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Because of its proximity to U.S. territory, Anapra, despite being in the middle of the desert and having poor infrastructure, is a strategic point for the movement of drugs and migrants. Press reports indicate that a criminal group known as La Empresa, an arm of the La L\u00ednea Cartel, operates in the area. They originally were engaged in hired assassins; now, they also do human trafficking.<\/span><\/p>\n

Every so often, the town appears in the news for the dismantling of \u201csafe houses\u201d where criminal groups hold and extort migrants before crossing the border.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A hole in the desert, on the Mexican side, near the border fence with the United States, remains of a tunnel. Photo: Kaloian.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During a tour of the area, I was near the territorial limit with a group of colleagues. From the north side of the bars, you can see the extreme poverty of Anapra, on the south side.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the ground where the fence is built, there are shreds of clothing, shoes, empty water bottles and other objects that migrants have left behind.<\/span><\/p>\n

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An improvised migrant camp on the banks of the Rio Bravo, in Mexico, where migrants wait for the night to cross into the United States. Photo: Kaloian.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A child was hanging around near the dumpster. He stopped for a few minutes, watched our movements, and ran away. That little boy could very well have been watching us. Criminal gangs use minors as guides or lookouts to monitor the movements of the Border Patrol. These watchmen are called \u201chawks\u201d in drug-criminal jargon.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A child hangs around a dumpster in Anapra, right next to the border fence with the United States. Photo: Kaloian.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cOn <\/span>the outskirts of Ciudad Ju\u00e1rez, there are communities that suffer a lot of recruitment of young people. They are forced to cross drugs. There are entire towns totally controlled by organized crime and young people have no other option,\u201d Dylan Corbett, director of the <\/span>Hope Border Institute<\/span><\/a>, later said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Minutes later, a high-end pickup truck with tinted windows appeared on one of the dirt roads in Anapra near the border. It slowly drove around. A colleague who was born in the area and familiar with local codes and movements warned us that it was probably a trafficker\u2019s vehicle.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very obvious. Anapra is one of the poorest places in Juarez. A truck with dark windows and driving around like that is suspicious,\u201d she told us.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Two Border Patrol agents in the Texas desert, near the U.S.-Mexico border fence. Photo: Kaloian.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It is common to see groups of migrants circulating through the town. At night, they generally try to cross, using ladders and other rudimentary means.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, on the morning of our tour, in a scorching heat of almost 40 degrees, two people, with agility, climbed the fence and came down from the Anapra side: they were going in the opposite direction than expected. They may have been coyotes or migrants who, upon noticing the presence of the Border Patrol, returned to Mexican territory to avoid being captured.<\/span><\/p>\n

A colleague was operating a drone and managed to capture the sequence. In the video, you can see how, from the other side of the wall, the two people are assisted with a ladder and, once on the ground, they run off into the town.<\/span><\/p>\n