Mexican drug cartels are now offering VIP treatment to illegal immigrants trying to cross the border, according to reports. The VIP smuggling, which can cost up to $15,000, now makes up 70% of cartel criminal activity versus their traditional drug trafficking, according to USA Today [1]. Reports suggest that some cartels are shepherding up to 1,000 VIP migrants per month from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, to El Paso, Texas.
“VIP PACKAGES” | Mexican cartels are now offering high-end human smuggling services, charging illegals up to $15k for entry into the US through a network of tunnels.
Insane. The Biden administration has created en entire industry for violent human-smuggling cartels, and business… pic.twitter.com/KGG2nVgaxq [2]
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) June 21, 2024 [3]
“We are learning about some new tactics now by Mexican cartels when it comes to smuggling. They’re offering these VIP packages to migrants coming to the United States through a network of tunnels. Now, one of the ways they’re doing this now is that cartels are now giving codes to migrants. This specific codes would identify which cartel has already been paid by doing this.
When migrants are making their way into the U.S. through these underground tunnels, they won’t be harassed by either local law enforcement or other rival groups, according to USA Today. These packages can range from anywhere from $6000 to $15000 per person. These VIP packages offer migrants a safer way to cross the U.S., as transnational groups are taking advantage of the 300 miles of storm drains across the border.
…this is pretty important because for the cartels, this minimizes the risk. Right. The old school smuggling tradition is you have a smuggler that got big groups of migrants across the border. But then this puts a smuggler at risk would be an arrest, especially here in Texas with Texas DPS on the border. So what cartels are not doing is they want to avoid those arrests, giving these migrants all these phones that already have the routes to take here.” – NewsNation, Jorge Ventura Media
“A kilo of cocaine might bring in $1,500, but the risk is very high. The cost-benefit of trafficking a person is $10,000, $12,000, $15,000,” said Arturo Velasco, manager of the Chihuahua attorney general’s office’s anti-kidnapping group.
VIP migrants are given code numbers in order to identify which cartel they’ve paid to help them as well as avoid harassment from rival syndicates or local police. Officials claim that Mexican National Guard and immigration bureaucrats along with local police have been accepting bribes in connection to the VIP smuggling.
In some instances, police are even said to be kidnapping migrants and keeping them in safe houses until they can find the money to pay for a VIP service. “It’s millions of pesos in extortions and everyone is in on it,” said Tony Payan, director of The US-Mexico Center at Rice University of the VIP scheme.
Reports of the VIP smuggling emerged after it was revealed that in the days since Joe Biden’s fake executive order to halt illegal immigration [4] to the United States, 42,000 migrants have crossed the border from Mexico. Since the order began, the average number of daily crossings has remained at around 3,200, according to leaked data from the Department of Homeland Security.
Border Patrol officials say that most of the migrants are being given court dates and released into the US despite the order’s goal to curb illegal immigration.