Smugglers Look for New Populations to Bring Across US Border

A group of 10 Haitians illegally cross the Suchiate River on a tube raft from Tecun Uman, Guatemala, to Hidalgo City, Mexico, on June 28, 2019. They are bound for the United States. Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times

WASHINGTON—As the number of family units from Central America dwindles, due to new policies taking effect at the U.S.–Mexico border, smuggling organizations are looking elsewhere for new business.

“They saw that we were making progress towards stemming the flow of illegal immigration from the Northern Triangle countries—really taking billions of dollars out of their pockets—and they shifted,” said Mark Morgan, acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), during an event with the Center for Immigration Studies on Dec. 20.