WRISTBANDS AND HUMAN SMUGGLING

...a new kind of highway litter

We have learned that the key to Amazon’s growth strategy has been an effective distribution of products. The e-commerce giant is convenience, how quickly it can get an order from customers’ shopping carts to their doorsteps.

Now it appears that international criminal cartels are learning about customer satisfaction from our business leaders. Recently, illegal immigrants who’ve been smuggled across our borders have been discarding colorful wristbands after they reach their destinations. Border crossers are coming into the United States wearing wristbands that identify the smuggling organization or cartel that’s been paid to cross the border.

Because the demand on the smugglers is so great, the numbers of smuggled individuals are backing up. The new system uses the identifying bracelets to determine who paid, who didn’t, and which “distribution center” is responsible for moving the illegal entrants into the interior parts of the country. The wristbands are of different colors, with numbers, words, and logos on them. Some of the most prominent logos have the “CDG” (Gulf Cartel) or the “CDN” (Cartel del Noreste), a faction of the Zetas. Some bracelets identify the “products” (the illegal immigrant) differently. Some bracelets have identifiers written on them. (“Llegadas” signifies arrivals; “Entrega” means delivery; and a special designation uses the word “Dorado”, presumably suggesting the need for a golden or first-class treatment.).

Obviously, the cartels are using this system to treat these people as commodities. Apparently with the unprecedented numbers crossing our borders, the price to cross the Rio Grande has increased. Mexican citizens report paying $2,500 to smugglers. Central and South Americans are paying $3,000 “per head.” To smuggle a Chinese citizen, smugglers charge $5,000, and Middle Eastern and Russian citizens are being charged $9,000.

If an individual does not have enough money to pay, the cartel will collect once the individual is inside the U.S. The cartels have personal data, details, and verification of their contacts in the U.S. They have information of their country of origin and family origins. That is debt bondage at its finest. It is the purest form of human trafficking.

The real question becomes--Who is footing the bill? Are these new entrants truly paying those sums to cross our southern border?