Trafficking Humans Into The U.S. Has Become A $100 Million A Year Business For Criminal Groups

Drug trafficking cartels in Mexico have turned to human smuggling and trafficking as another way to make money. By operating kidnapping and extortion rings, criminal groups manage to raise millions of dollars every year at the expense of vulnerable people.

In northern Mexico, a recent confidential intelligence report shared by news outlet Milenio says that criminal groups make more than $100 million every year along the Chihuahua-Texas border alone.

Human trafficking and smuggling has gotten so profitable that some groups have put drug trafficking to the side and focused on charging the thousands of migrants who try to cross into the U.S. every day. According to a report by Mexican outlet Milenio, criminal groups charge migrants migrants around $4,000 to $10,000 per person —sometimes more depending on the route and possible risks— to cross into the U.S.

"Along the Chihuahua-Texas border alone, there is an annual profit of around $100 million, considering that so far in 2024 more than 274,000 migrants have crossed through there," read a passage of the report.

Criminal groups have turned to human trafficking as there is less risk and bigger rewards than drug trafficking, constantly using the money they generate to buy newer guns and to update their technology.

The profitability means groups are now fighting each other for the control of smuggling routes and territories along the border.

"The kidnapping market has grown immensely," Ari Sawyer, an expert on migration dynamics and the security situation in Mexico told InSight Crime. "Organized crime groups saw a ripe opportunity to double down on smuggling, but they've become so well-organized that they also operate kidnapping and extortion rings alongside that."

Data from Mexico's National Institute of Migration (INM) shows that the state of Chihuahua counts with the second-largest number of human trafficking cases reported among states that border the U.S. Local authorities detected Tren de Aragua activity in the region at least two years ago and since then, they have allied with groups such as La Empresa and La Línea, which serve as armed wings for the Júarez Cartel.

According to Domestic Preparedness, transnational criminal organizations control the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border and offer smuggling services to migrants with promises of safe passage into the U.S. They are often kidnapped en-route to their destination and controlled with debt bondage, physical violence and threats to family members.

Even though criminal groups have a presence along the 2,000-mile border, there are some states that have long served as human trafficking hotspots.

As InSight Crime reported in 2022, Baja California, Chihuahua and Nuevo León accounted for one quarter of all human trafficking victims identified. For example in Baja California and Chihuahua, the border cities of Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez are known to be hubs for sexual and labor exploitation, whereas the city of Monterrey is a long-time operational base for human traffickers.