Posted on 06/30/2018 1:30:42 PM PDT by Pearls Before Swine
I have a question for FReepers which might merit some discussion.
I've been reading about the amount that people pay coyotes to be smuggled into the US. For Central Americans and other OTM (Other than Mexicans), estimates I've seen vary from $6,000 to $12,000 per person. That amount gets a person smuggled through Mexico (really, the Mexican part is a bribe for passage, possibly un-molested) and across the border into the US. An example article discussing this can be easily found. One example is this one from the NY Times: What it Costs to be Smuggled Across the U. S. Border.
My question is this: If it costs an average of, say, $10,000 per person, how does someone in poor circumstances scrape up 10, 20, or 30,000 bucks? That's a lot of money in Central America, almost too much to accumulate safely at one time. Enough to buy a house or start some sort of business.
Is the fee financed mostly by a promise to pay later once in the US under thread of violence? Is money diverted to the smuggling groups from the NGOs who are paid maintenance fees per arrival?
What is the money flow? I've never seen this explained. What I've seen are estimates of the cost, and implications that some of it actually comes through the US, ultimately from the US taxpayer or perhaps some liberal-linked groups. Or, sometimes it is said that these people, arriving with just the shirts on their backs, somehow raised and accumulated the fees themselves.
I want to know what the truth is. Perhaps some here can shed some light?
Interesting.
I suppose its a reasonable plan to leave some people back at home, pay off the debt while you try to establish yourself as anchored (green card, path to citizenship, another baby), and then bring up others. You almost have to respect that risk, given that the coyotes are ruthless and not everyone actually gets simply transported without abuse or abandonment.
In the past week or two, there was an incident where a 6-year old boy was dropped on the side of the road in 100 degree heat by his “uncle” to be picked up by the Border Patrol.
Then there’s the unaccompanied minors... that’s another whole kettle of fish. They aren’t paying anything back for a while.
A lady I knew was pulled over driving, arrested, and deported back to Guatemala. She left behind three children. ICE said the father was still here (also illegal), so he could take care of the kids. She and her husband were in the process of getting citizenship through the courts at the time. Her relatives here in the USA paid $5000 to someone to help her get back to USA. When she did get back, she was housed in a safe house in Houston. That’s where her relatives picked her up and brought her back to her children. $5000, but that was about ten years ago. The courts have since given both her and her husband US citizenship. She did tell me she was sexual molested by the coyote on her trip back.
My Coyote cost $7k. And it didn’t come with an alternator, starter, or PCM. But it fits nicely in my Ford. Oh wait.... nevermind.
[I suppose its a reasonable plan to leave some people back at home, pay off the debt while you try to establish yourself as anchored (green card, path to citizenship, another baby), and then bring up others. You almost have to respect that risk, given that the coyotes are ruthless and not everyone actually gets simply transported without abuse or abandonment.]
All good points.
Tourist visa overstay is definitely one way to go. They’re here, and they’ve dropped off the radar after. There seems to be a big fake ID industry, which should be ruthlessly prosecuted. Some sort of biometric check on anyone who comes in is going to become necessary, I think.
Selective legal immigration is obviously the way to go. It could be accompanied by an expanded but closely monitored migrant labor force. But, obviously, this jump in and short-circuit the process, with the taxpayer as backup, has got to stop.
I sometimes use a chemical analogy: If you mix certain substances you get a solution (or in the metallic phase, an alloy). But, mix in too much, you get a precipitate. That’s what we have now, and its Balkanizing the country.
correct..most on go now pay later..some get a break for bringing in drugs or driving smugglers car..smugglers document family and sometimes take the passports of people smuggled in (pollos- chickens). You will find many people from the same small pueblo go to same city and state where someone went before from their pueblo, many times dozens or more end up working for the same employer.
The most important thing to remember is that the ONLY people who need to sneak across the border are people who can’t get a visa because they have a criminal record, or outstanding warrants, or gang affiliations.
Half the illegal immigrants in America came here legally (tourist, student, work visa), and never left.
My brother caught 70 of them last year. The really good ones are going for $70 per hide.
Another factor is that what ever they own in the country they leave is a down payment. So the coyotes family gains more power and ownership in the country of origin.
For years, they got 6-8K from the IRS in child credits. Thousands of dollars.
Many times it is paid by family members already in the US. Remember, they are sending billions out of the country. Also, there are no guarantees on that price, often, when they arrive here, the coyotes will demand additional money before releasing them.
This wasn’t the first time Screaming Kid’s Mama has crossed. She abandoned her other kids leaving them in Honduras.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5869829/Father-two-year-old-face-child-separation-crisis-speaks-out.html Her husband “works as a captain at a port on the coast of Puerto Cortes.” And right there is likely how she got halfway here. He admits he has a good job and there’s a picture of them in a what appears to be a newer car, they’re certainly not in poverty. She was caught cross once before so wonder just how many times she’s crossed and not been caught. That begs the question on what she’s actually doing here? Drug running or something but it’s not for asylum.
And YES, if her husband is doing that well, why take such a risk to get into the US?
They seem to have a good life.
Seems fishy to me.
Lots of money also gets sent back by those who have already invaded and ensconced themselves.....
Excellent points. No visa either means bad background or extremely poor and semi-literate, not knowing it was available, or not having ready travel funds.
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