Cartels shifting from drugs to human trafficking: Better profits, less risk

by WorldTribune Staff, June 28, 2019

Mexican cartels now prefer trafficking humans to drugs because they not only get “very, very rich,” but the legal consequences of getting caught are not as severe, said President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the U.S.’s first “border czar.”

‘Nothing happens on that border without the blessing and paying off of the drug cartels that control that area.’

“A lot of these transnational criminal organizations they’re moving aliens right now rather than drugs because, number one, it’s more profitable right now, and number two, the consequences aren’t nearly as high when you smuggle a person than smuggle a kilo of cocaine. So it’s a business,” Thomas Homan said at a conference this week hosted by the Center for Immigration Studies.

The cartels are charging $1,000 fees just for immigrants to pass through their territory.

“We all know the criminal cartels control the northern border of Mexico. Nothing happens on that border without the blessing and paying off of the drug cartels that control that area,” Homan said.

“For a criminal organization to smuggle aliens through their territory, they have to pay a plaza fee. They got to pay off the cartels. So what’s happening right now with what’s going on on the Southwest border, this humanitarian issue, is making these cartels very, very rich. We’re bankrolling the very same cartels that smuggle drugs — smuggle drugs, weapons, the same cartels that have murdered Border Patrol agents in the past. That’s who’s getting rich off all this,” Homan said.

The recent deal pushed by President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence with Mexico is beginning to put the squeeze on the cartels as Mexico puts more troops on the border to help slow the flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S., Homan said.

Homan praised the effort and said, “Mexico is stepping up enforcement and, as you see, they sent a lot of their national guard to attack the cartels, and when I say attack I’m talking about identifying and dismantling. They’re going to do it two ways. They’re going to attack the transportation infrastructure that moves these aliens from southern Mexico to northern, and they’re going to attack their financial infrastructure.”

Homan said he is open to accepting the border czar post, but said that it hasn’t been officially offered yet. Trump recently said he wanted Homan in the job, but officials are still working to create it.


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