Business is Booming! Migrant Smuggler Costs for Crossing Mexico to US The Associated Press | |
go to original July 21, 2014 |
Where does the money go? It costs at least $100 per migrant to board Mexican freight train known as La Bestia (AFP/Getty)
Migration experts and smugglers who charge from $5,000 to $10,000 to move Central Americans to the U.S. say these are the payments that must be made to get their human cargo to its destination:
• Boatmen at Mexico's southern border: $1.50 to cross Suchiate River from Guatemala.
• Lodging: $11.50 a room, which can hold many migrants.
• Central American gang: At least $100 per migrant to board Mexican freight train known as "La Bestia" The Beast).
• Mexican police and immigration officials: $230 to $540 to pass; $25 to $40 a person to free detained migrant.
• Drug cartels: $250 to $300 for Mexican migrant, $500 to $700 for Central American, about $1,500 for someone from Europe or Asia, plus 10 percent flat fee per smuggler to cross northern Mexico to U.S. border.
• Boatmen at Mexico's northern border: $100 per immigrant to cross Rio Grande into U.S.
• Drivers: $150 for ride from Rio Grande to stash house; $200 for ride north of Border Patrol's highway checkpoint to Houston.
• Caretaker at stash house: $20 per person per day.
See the original at TBO
We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!
From activities like hiking, swimming, bike riding and yoga, to restaurants offering healthy menus, Vallarta-Nayarit is the ideal place to continue - or start - your healthy lifestyle routine.