Drug cartels control migration at Mexico’s southern border

When crossing the Suchiate River from Guatemala, migrants entering Mexico face not only a dangerous journey, they call it “the chicken coop or the cockpit” and there they remain kidnapped until they pay a cartel, usd 100 “the right of passage” the direct control of the drug cartels that dominate the southern border of the country.

Only after making that payment, migrants receive a stamp on their arm that allows them to advance through Mexican territory.

In the administration of Joe Biden

The government of Joe Biden attributes the decrease of migrants at the US border to an increase in legal ways to migrate and to Mexican cooperation in the control of its southern border. But in reality, indicates the news agency, those who manage the migratory flow in this region are not the Mexican authorities, but the cartels.

This control ranges from the kidnapping of migrants to the collection of fees for their freedom and safe passage.

Between January and August 2024, the National Migration Institute intercepted more than 150,000 migrants in southern Mexico, but these figures only reflect a part of those arriving.

The criminal game of the cartels in the extortion and exploitation of migrants underscores the serious dangers of this route, where criminal gangs impose their rules on those fleeing violence and seeking to reach the United States, in a context in which state control is insufficient.

Written by: Oscar El Blue

Migrants receive a stamp on their arm that allows them to advance through Mexican territory