Young people fall into Mexican cartels networks. They are hooked on social networks.
Teh business of smuggling of migrants no longer depends only on secret routes or coyotes that cross the desert. Today, the Mexican cartels transfer a good part of their operations to the digital world, where seemingly harmless publications on social networks serve to attract young Americans to their criminal network.
According to a six-month investigation conducted by CNN and reported by journalist David Culver, the Mexican cartels have perfected a silent and highly effective method of recruiting accomplices within the United States through social networks.
The story of a young woman from Phoenix crudely illustrates how this works. Just 20 years old, a new mother facing economic difficulties, she saw in a Snapchat publication the opportunity for a quick win with the promise of earning $5 to $10 thousand dollars in one day. Unknowingly, she was about to become a key piece of a criminal network operating from Mexico without crossing the border.
How does the digital recruitment of Mexican cartels work?
The promise of fast money is usually the hook. In the case of the young woman interviewed by CNN, a simple message was enough to involve her in migrant smuggling. Her initial role seemed innocent – “collecting people.” But that ambiguous phrase hid a complex system. Lacking a car or license, she asked a friend for help. A week later, after a first successful run and cash payment, the line between legal and criminal had vanished.
what began as a one-time task became a recurring business.The young woman reposted the same message on her Snapchat account and recruited dozens of drivers, who helped transfer about a hundred migrants to the north of the country. Over time, she moved beyond recruitment.
the consequences came when one of those drivers was arrested and federal authorities began to track her account. She was arrested, processed, and convicted for her role as a facilitator of these operations. Despite this, she never knew with certainty who was behind the profile that contacted her. Researchers believe the person in charge was an operator of the Sinaloa cartel, the group that controls the smuggling routes in Arizona.
Young Americans as a new labor source for the Mexican narco
The allure of easy money has turned social networks into a fertile field for recruitment. CNN identified hundreds of similar publications on platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, and Snapchat, many in English and designed to capture young people between 18 and 25 years old. There is no single profile. Those recruited include university students and young people with criminal records.