Cartel-connected human smugglers are using a faster and cheaper way to move primarily Haitian migrants from Mexico City to the border city of Reynosa. Using a bureaucratic loophole and sometimes corrupt immigration officials, smugglers are able to use low-cost airlines instead of ground transportation.
For several weeks, Breitbart Texas traveled through Mexico speaking with migrants and officials from the National Migration Institute (INM) to uncover the inner workings of the new pathway. The journey begins in Tapachula, Chiapas, where Haitians can legally enter and claim asylum.
Individuals can pay corrupt INM officials $3,000 for a humanitarian ID granting migrants asylum in Mexico. They can also obtain one after spending three months in Chiapas under the care of the federal refugee agency COMAR.
Along with the ID, migrants also get or purchase a Mexican version of a Social Security number known as CURP. A top INM official in Tamaulipas revealed to Breitbart Texas that in the case of Haitian and Cuban migrants, the CURP even includes a photograph.
When a Haitian is caught without proper documents, they are given a 20-day permit to leave the county since deportation flights to Haiti are currently halted, an INM official revealed to Breitbart Texas.
“That permit allows them to travel freely through Mexico for 20 days,” the official said.
With the legally obtained IDs or with fraudulently purchased ones, migrants are then taken to Mexico City’s airport where they purchase a one-way ticket to Reynosa on Viva Aerobus, a low-cost airline where the ticket averages $60 USD.
Through multiple trips from Mexico City to Reynosa, Breitbart Texas was able to document the large number of Haitian migrants who are flying to the northern border city. Migrants are waved past immigration checks so long as they have a valid document regardless of circumstance.
Outside the airport, the Haitians usually gather in groups as they wait for cartel-operated passenger vans or Suburbans, according to law enforcement sources. Migrants are moved to stash houses or hotels until they can be smuggled into Texas. Before the migrants cross the Rio Grande, the Mexican asylum documents are discarded, an INM official revealed to Breitbart Texas.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
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