Crime-Ridden Mexican Border Fosters Human Trafficking
Olivia Snow

August 11, 2011 at 2:00 pm

Drugged, raped, and sold for sex. This was the life of Maria (not her real name), a 16-year-old Mexican girl who was kidnapped by a local gang and lured into the sex trade.

She was a lucky one, rescued from the criminal gang.

Many others were not so lucky. Several of Maria’s friends were stolen from their homes, abused, and then sold into the U.S. or brutally killed. Annually, close to 100,000 young boys and girls from Latin America are trafficked by gangs, smugglers, and members of transnational criminal organizations.

U.S. efforts to combat trafficking have raised awareness on the issue but in many cases are unable to address the roots of the problem: a lackadaisical enforcement of immigration laws and an ad hoc border security strategy.

Drug traffickers increasingly prey upon vulnerable immigrants making the treacherous trek across the U.S. border. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Deputy Commissioner David Aguilar noted the ties between drug smuggling, illegal immigration, and human trafficking:
All the violence that occurs, against illegal aliens…occur at the hands of smugglers…The smugglers are working in coordination with the drug cartels and the drug trafficking organizations.
Los Zetas, one of Mexico’s most violent transnational criminal organizations, has even started its own prostitution ring. One U.S. official noted, “They’re starting to change their business model and branching out into things like sex trafficking…They realize it is a lucrative way to generate revenue, and it is low-risk.â€