The Washington Post is out with a bombshell report today on a new tactic being using by traffickers in Mexico to take advantage of the “dysfunction” in the United States as it relates to asylum seekers:
EXCLUSIVE Traffickers capitalizing on US asylum dysfunction + slackening Mexico enforcement have launched an unprecedented smuggling operation that uses express buses to deliver Guatemalan families to the border, making the trip faster, safer —and cheaper https://t.co/qr16WqH7ii
— Nick Miroff (@NickMiroff) March 15, 2019
Basically, the traffickers have found a way to reduce their costs and make more money by bringing as many people to the border as fast as possible and not caring if they are apprehended or not:
The direct bus method allows smugglers to eliminate the need for stash houses near the border, reducing costs and maximizing profits. They pitch the journey to the U.S. like a tour package, bringing families to staging areas in southern Mexico to organize them into bus groups
— Nick Miroff (@NickMiroff) March 15, 2019
This is the national emergency right here:
Then they speed north, delivering large groups at drop-off points in the El Paso area and points west opposite Arizona and New Mexico. The families are directed to walk across the border and surrender to U.S. agents to start the asylum process, with expectation of a quick release
— Nick Miroff (@NickMiroff) March 15, 2019
Expect to see more of this, too:
The express bus operators generally avoid Tamaulipas, and to date have generated few reports of violence or mistreatment. But the smuggling system is facilitating a record surge in the number of families crossing the border, many of them in groups of 100 or more.
— Nick Miroff (@NickMiroff) March 15, 2019
Capitalism for the win?
All of this is a market-driven response to fact that migrants with children can now travel north relatively openly. That is making the journey much safer. But it is also accelerating the kind of unauthorized mass migration that no wall or barrier will stop
— Nick Miroff (@NickMiroff) March 15, 2019
The rest here:
More with this terrific visual explainer from @vanhoutenphoto @jribas @kdombsadof @n_kirkpatrick @mg_callahan https://t.co/2LzzLzFqHx
— Nick Miroff (@NickMiroff) March 15, 2019
***
Related:
IT'S OFFICIAL: Trump VETOES resolution terminating national emergency declaration https://t.co/OWNwYtweNA
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) March 15, 2019
Join the conversation as a VIP Member