Migrant-trafficking networks, with smugglers known as coyotes, have grown from a cottage industry to operations linked to drug gangs.
The business of smuggling migrants to the U.S.—such as the 53 who died after being left in a truck in San Antonio—has grown quickly with more illegal immigration and stronger links between smugglers and organized crime, according to U.S. and Mexican officials.
Migrants from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador pay an estimated $1.7 billion a year to smugglers known as coyotes, according to a 2021 United Nations study. By far the biggest users of coyotes are Guatemalans.
CLICK HERE TO READ FULL ARTICLE BY José de Córdoba AND Juan Montes ON THE WSJ
TYT Newsroom