Tamaulipas-Texas, Scandalous Human Trafficking. An Irrepressible Millionaire Business

"Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat

The crossing of migrants in Tamaulipas at the hands of human smugglers and criminal groups that control them - which in the last nine months has left profits of 7,500 million dollars - explains the bloody dispute between organized crime groups, as well as the insecurity and violence that shake the territory.

Tamaulipas' northern border has become the main crossing point for migrants entering the United States after paying thousands of dollars to the human traffickers and criminal groups that control them. 

That prosperous business - which in the last nine months has left profits of 7.5 billion dollars - explains the bloody dispute between organized crime groups, as well as the insecurity and violence that shake that territory.

According to reports from the United States government, between October 2020 and June 2021 one million 255,824 migrants entered that country through the border of Tamaulipas and Texas.

According to research by the Mexican government, this means profits of about 7,534 million 944 thousand dollars - about 150,698 million 880 thousand pesos - for human traffickers. The figure is equivalent to the pension that the federal government grants each year to 8 million older adults.

This profitable business justifies the bloody permanent dispute between organized crime groups for the control of migrant crossing areas; it allows them to finance the development of their illicit activities, as well as strengthen their groups with weapons and vehicle fleet.

It also serves to pay the payroll of their hundreds of spies and hitmen, but above all to expand their operations and buy public and private "power."

Intelligence information from federal and state security corporations detected that in Tamaulipas the Northeast Cartel has control in Nuevo Laredo and a part of the Small Border that includes the towns of Mier and Miguel Alemán; the Gulf Cartel, through its Metros faction, remains in Miguel Alemán, Camargo and Reynosa, while the Río Bravo, Nuevo Progreso and Matamoros area are strongholds of the Cyclones/Scorpions faction.

The data is brutal and place the migration issue as one of the central axes in the criminal business in Tamaulipas:

To these scandalous figures obtained by the illegal trafficking of people are added another thousand dollars for the last "leap" before crossing the Rio Bravo, which means for the local criminal groups of that entity an economic spillover of 1,255 million 824 thousand dollars, 25 thousand 116 million 480 thousand pesos, a figure similar to what the federal government spends each year on almost 1 million people with disabilities through direct support.

Proceso