Phoenix, United States.
Shamelessly and openly offering illegal crossings in the United States, the “coyotesThey use social media to promote their services and, as a ‘hook’, they sell the idea that with the coming of President Joe Biden to power they will be able to come to the ‘American dream’.
Pages created with names like “Safe Crossing for United States illegally “,” Help with the cross “,” Cheap crosses a Jo“They can be seen on various platforms as a massive way to contact ‘clients’ with a desire to emigrate.
“What kind of race do they walk? If they want to cross the United States take advantage of the fact that it is now easier without Trump. You still have the American dream, Make me an inbox and it gave you information, ”reads one of the advertisements, which also shows photographs of migrants crossing the desert.
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If in the past these “services” were maintained in the underground and they made themselves known through word of mouth, now social media has changed everything.
The posts are made in such a way that you have to contact in private the people who are offering the service of “passing people” across the border by post or online groups, and prices vary according to the destination of the interested.
“I only vote for Calexico $ 3,500. Until the Angels $ 6,500. Payment is made until you reach your destination. Take advantage. Likewise there are other forms of crossing such as cart by entrance. Walking with papers. And walking 3 hours up the hill. Crossing Mexicali and Nogales walking 10 minutes just $ 7,000, ”says another of the messages.
Analyst Javier Osorio clarified to Efe that the use of the technology “It’s not new” for traffickers, only they previously did so through more private channels like the dark route on the internet, which are harder to access for the general public.
“But now they do it more blatantly, we see more open channels like Twitter and Facebook. Migrant caravans communicate through these channels and then move to private channels of How are you. These channels are widely used in Central America and coyotes see these virtual spaces for potential customers, ”said the founder of the North American Academy of Security Analysis.
Osorio indicated that the authorities of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) they have monitored these networks used by traffickers and “the Border Patrol buys mobile data from private companies to record the geographical position of the chicken coops.”
This was confirmed to Efe herself Customs and Border Protection Office, Who noted that they are “constantly monitoring and analyzing any significant new trends that criminal organizations and transnationals can use it, such as exploiting social media to attract more businesses to their illicit activities along the border, and will adapt their enforcement stance accordingly ”.
Recent CBP reports reveal that the migratory flow on the southwestern border has increased gradually and last December saw the highest number of arrests at the border in this month since 2001, accounting for 73,513 meetings with undocumented, many more than 40,565 of the same month of 2019.
Biden promised from his campaign to get rid of the “damage” caused by the border policies of former President Donald Trump’s government and so he proved since the day he entered the White House as president when he announced a package of measures on migration, including stopping the construction of the border wall with Mexico.
And many conservatives and CBP agents are already warning that these looser policies will translate in the coming months into a new avalanche of immigrants and a possible new humanitarian crisis on the border.
The expert the Government School i Public Policy of the University of Arizona (UA) believes that the Biden phenomenon comes to add an attraction factor for migration, “as relaxing migration through political discourse” becomes more tempting the so-called “American dream”.
“But we must not forget that the Latin American economies and Central Americans are devastated by covid, coupled with poverty and violence, people have many reasons to emigrate, ”he said.