YUMA, Ariz. – Mexican cartels that control the southern border are putting Americans at risk as they smuggle drugs and violent criminals into the United States, a border town official told Fox News.
“This is not a political discussion,” Yuma County Supervisor Jonathan Lines told Fox News. “This is a matter of national security.”
“Unless this situation changes and we take back control from the cartels, for the human trafficking that comes across our border, it will only get worse,” Lines said.
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The cartels have established effective – and profitable – smuggling operations and are using the migrant surge to evade overwhelmed Border Patrol officers, according to Lines. Migrants can pay the cartels to help them cross the border, but if they can’t afford the cost, then they can trade drugs or work off their debt instead of cash.
“There’s a lot of people who don’t like the United States for whatever reason, and there’s plenty of people who want to come in here and do some damage,” Yuma resident and farmer Alex Muller said. to Fox News. “It’s just like a ticking time bomb.”
Nearly 100 known or suspected terrorists were arrested on the southern border last year, according to Customs and Border Protection. In comparison, over the previous five years, there was a combined total of 26 arrests.
Meanwhile, the profits of human smuggling operations have increased dramatically in recent years. According to Homeland Security Investigations, the industry generated $13 billion in July – up from $500 million in 2018. And CBP seized 15,000 pounds of fentanyl along the southern border in 2022 – a 206% increase from 2020.
Yuma County Supervisor Jonathan Lines says some migrants owe the cartels years after crossing the US-Mexico border.
(Fox News/Megan Myers)
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“You have all these cartels that basically run this border, funneling people and drugs across,” Hank Auza, a Yuma resident and fifth-generation farmer, told Fox News. “That’s big money and people.”
Immigrant encounters increased from 480,000 in 2020 to 2.3 million last year, according to CBP. In Yuma, there was a 171% increase in migrant crossings between 2021 and 2022.
“The whole world is crossing the border, and these are the people who want to be caught,” Muller told Fox News. “There are a lot of people who don’t want to be caught.”
“Where are they going and who is supporting them?” Muller continued. “That’s what’s scary.”
The border town of Yuma, Arizona saw a 171% increase in migrant crossings between 2021 and 2022 and migrant encounters across the country are at an all-time high.
(Photo by Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images)
Cartel fees for migrants trying to cross the border can range from $4,000 to $20,000, a George Mason University professor told The New York Times. One man took out a $20,000 loan to smuggle his two sons into the United States. They were later found dead in the back of an abandoned tractor-trailer in San Antonio along with 51 others.
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Many migrants remain “indebted to the cartel” after crossing into the United States, Lines said. As a result, they are forced to work off their debts.
“Not everyone can pay for it, and they come as indentured servants,” Lines told Fox News.
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Muller said the cartels have taken advantage of Biden’s border policies for the past two years.
“The border is not 100% secure,” he told Fox News. “It’s wide open.”
“It’s 100% dangerous what’s happening right now,” said Muller. “I’m sure it could be too late as this has been like this for the last two and a half years.”
What do drug mules get paid?
To hear more from Lines on Mexican cartels control over the southern border, click here.
How are drug mules recruited?
Megan Myers is an associate producer/writer with Fox News Digital Originals. Read also : Has remote work changed the nature of travel?.
Do cartels use mules?
What is a drug mule messenger? This project offers the following definition of a “drug mule:” a drug courier who is paid, coerced, or tricked into transporting drugs across an international border, but has no further commercial interest in the drugs. See the article : The DeSantis group has responded to a proclamation by students that media characters register political opinions with the state.
What percentage of drugs are seized?
These individuals admitted that they had been recruited through Facebook ads that solicited “individuals looking for work” and offered “an opportunity to make money.” In addition to Facebook ads, drug cartels use other social channels such as Twitter. , Tik Tok, and YouTube for extortion.
The Mexican drug mafia is finding mule meth inside one of the world’s most popular games, as revealed by a previously unreported case in Arizona. Grand Theft Auto players know what it’s like to work for a Mexican cartel. But they do it from the comfort of their own bedroom.
What do drug traffickers do?
That’s the dope business.” Losses in the narcotics business through seizures or thefts are rarely catastrophic. The United Nations estimates that current drug interdiction efforts intercept about 13% of heroin shipments and 28 to 40% of transporting cocaine.
How much drug money is seized annually in the US?
| What happens if you are caught with drugs at the border? Sentences for smuggling charges can range from 26 to 43 years, with sentences based on a point system depending on the item smuggled, criminal history, and whether anyone was injured. | The illegal drug trade or drug trafficking is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, production, distribution and sale of illicit drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibit the trade, except under licence, of many types of drugs through the use of drug prohibition laws. | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Average Dollar Value | Median Dollar Value | 1998 |
How much money do drug dealers make a year?
$1,239
Why can border patrol pull you over?
$428
The lowest level of the hierarchy, and the most common, are the street level vendors. These are the individuals who are actively involved in selling drugs on a daily basis, and are generally paid based on the amount of product they distribute. On average, street vendors make less than $2500 a year.
Can Border Patrol stop you without incident?
Customs and Border Patrol also conducts roving patrols and may also try to pull you over. They must have reasonable suspicion that the driver or passengers in your car have committed some immigration or federal crime, and they must have probable cause to continue the stop.
Can Border Patrol pull you over for any reason?
Can Border Patrol pull you over for speeding? Border Patrol are federal agents, not traffic patrol. They don’t pull over cars for speeding, equipment malfunctions or other motor vehicle offenses, and they don’t have anything to do with civil matters when they see them.
