Not a surprise that the Mexican drug cartels would find other lucrative enterprises. This time it’s smuggling of illegal aliens. That’s an area that can only become more violent as the cartels take over. Here’s another reason for the U.S. to step it up and address the Mexican drug cartel and border problems.
By Josh Meyer
Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON— Mexican drug cartels and their vast network of associates have branched out from their traditional business of narcotics trafficking and are now playing a central role in the multibillion-dollar-a-year business of illegal immigrant smuggling, U.S. law enforcement officials and other experts say.
The business of smuggling humans across the Mexican border has always been brisk, with many thousands coming across every year.
But smugglers affiliated with the drug cartels have taken the enterprise to a new level — and made it more violent — by commandeering much of the operation from independent coyotes, according to these officials and recent congressional testimonies.
U.S. efforts to stop the cartels have been stymied by a shortage of funds and the failure of federal law enforcement agencies to collaborate effectively with one another, their local and state counterparts and the Mexican government, officials say.
U.S. authorities have long focused their efforts on the cartels’ trafficking of cocaine, marijuana, heroin and methamphetamines, which has left a trail of violence and corruption.
Many of those officials now say that the toll from smuggling illegal immigrants is often far worse.
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