Claudia Guerrero / Reform Agency
Thursday, April 13, 2023 | 21:17
Mexico City.- The so-called “polleros”, as human traffickers are colloquially known, charge migrants more than 80,000 pesos to cross them into the United States, according to the Immigration Policy, Registration and Identity Unit of Persons (UPMRIP), under the Ministry of the Interior.
The fee per person is around 82,000 pesos when it comes to migrants from Central America, but rises to almost 90,000 pesos if the migrant is a Mexican national.
Citing the study “Characterization of financial flows associated with the smuggling of migrants from the Northern Triangle of Central America” (2020), the Unit identified a series of variables that influence the payment to migrants.
“The people who declared that they had not suffered risks at the crossing paid more than those who stated that they had suffered them (the first paid 4,760 dollars and the second 4,587 dollars),” he describes.
The rate, for example, is reduced when travelers have relatives in the United States or if they hire smugglers, without taking into account the risks at the crossing.
“This could be due to the fact that people prefer to pay for a more expensive coyote, assuming that it is a guarantee of a safer crossing, and it could be a consequence of the fact that the coyotes that charge more do so because they have the capacity to manage traffic and, eventually, achieve a safer crossing, due to its relations with organized crime or with some colluding authorities”.
The coordinator of the Unit’s Center for Migration Studies (CEM), Miguel Ángel Aguilar Dorado, reported that the publication estimates that seven out of 10 people from Central America who crossed the border with the help of an alleged trafficker paid an average of 4,599 dollars.
On the other hand, he pointed out that five out of 10 Mexican people who crossed under the same scheme paid an average of 4,599 dollars.
The CEM coordinator reported that, from January 2016 to February 2023, there have been 5,743 complaints about crimes perpetrated against migrants in an irregular situation in Mexico.
In a statement, he said that human trafficking is the second most reported crime, with a total of 1,861 cases, of which 33 percent were filed by women and 66 percent by men.
It revealed that, according to age distribution, 3 out of 10 reports of illicit trafficking correspond to children and adolescents.
“The official statistics on the matter, as well as the surveys on migration at the borders, allow estimates of the financial flows associated with the smuggling of migrants, the approximate amounts, types of payment, and sociodemographic profiles of those who hire the traffickers. “, said.
“It is necessary to strengthen alliances in all levels of government, as well as incorporate international organizations and civil society, however, the first contact is with local authorities and they are the ones who have the possibility of identifying vulnerable profiles, offering care specialized and differentiated needs that migrants subject to this crime need”.
According to the Ministry of the Interior (Segob), the issue was addressed during the ‘Training and round table for the development of a protection route for people subject to migrant smuggling and the national strategy on the matter in Tamaulipas.’
“The meeting was held with the objective of collecting information to build a local route for those who are subject to this crime, as well as a mapping of the institutions at the local level that intervene in the care and protection of migrants,” he added.
