Crime obtained more than 6 billion dollars for migrant trafficking.

The report "Migration in Mexico in the Time of Trump: Threats and Subordination" by the organization Vital Signs revealed that in 2023, organized crime earned approximately $6 billion in revenue from human trafficking.

According to the document, criminal organizations in Mexico generated $6,079.8 million, the highest level on record. This figure is directly related to the increase in the number of migrants who paid intermediaries over $9,000 to cross the border into the United States.

“We estimate that in 2023 there were approximately 648,271 illegal crossings into the United States (74 illegal crossings per hour). Similarly, if more than 600,000 people seems like an enormous figure compared to the number of arrests, it should be noted that the Mexican Armed Forces have recorded at least 2,100,000 arrests in that same year (twice the number recorded by immigration authorities),” it was stated.

The report also highlighted that this criminal industry has benefited from Mexico's containment policy, which has transformed the country into a strategic corridor for both irregular transit and the operations of criminal groups such as the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

“Transnational organized crime has created its own business environment. In this sense, migration routes largely overlap with huachicol routes. This phenomenon is due to the fact that traffickers require other services such as transportation, which makes intensive use of gasoline, diesel, and, in exceptional cases, jet fuel (tax-free and difficult to detect). It also requires control of large swathes of national territory,” the text stated.

In addition, it was explained that Mexico has experienced a significant increase in the number of immigration detentions. According to Vital Signs, between January 2019 and August 2024, during Andrés Manuel López Obrador's six-year term, 2,720,412 migrants were detained, an increase of 230% compared to Peña Nieto's six-year term and 434% compared to Calderón's. In the first two months of Claudia Sheinbaum's administration, 349,625 people were reported detained by immigration authorities.

Copper from remittances by foreigners

Another finding highlighted by the organization was the sustained increase in the collection of remittances by foreigners residing in Mexico.

“Based on information from Financiera para el Bienestar (Finabien), we know that between 2018 and 2023, the amount received by foreigners (residents in Mexico) through remittances grew by 103.6% in real terms,” the report explained, which stated that it increased from 101 to 250.6 million pesos during the period.

It was reported that 26.2% of this money was collected by American and Canadian citizens, while 73.8% was collected by people of more than 150 nationalities.

“Despite the growth (36.5% between 2018 and 2023) in the nationalities of remittance recipients in Mexico, by 2023 only 14 nations predominated in the collection of these (85.4% of the total remittances collected by foreigners in Mexico): United States (61.8 million pesos), Venezuela (50.6 million pesos), Haiti (31.9 million pesos), Colombia (14.5 million pesos), Cuba (11.3 million pesos), Ecuador (10.5 million pesos), Honduras (7.2 million pesos), Russia (5.2 million pesos), Nicaragua (4 million pesos), Argentina (3.8 million pesos), Peru (3.8 million pesos), Canada (3.7 million pesos), El Salvador (3 million pesos) and Guatemala (2.7 million pesos)”, it was detailed.

In the case of remittances from Venezuelans residing in the Republic, remittances grew by 419.4% in real terms during the aforementioned period. The NGO indicated that, although they were already considered a significant group five years ago, their growth rate exceeds that of any other nationality, even Mexicans.

For their part, Argentines have lost ground: according to data, while in 2018 they were the third largest recipients of remittances (7.4 million pesos), by 2023 their share had declined significantly compared to the rise of other nationalities.

While, in geographical terms, 89.1% of the total remittances received by foreigners were concentrated in just 10 entities: Nuevo León (62.8 million pesos), Mexico City (25.9 million pesos), Oaxaca (18.7 million pesos), Tamaulipas (14.6 million pesos), Quintana Roo (13.5 million pesos), Chiapas (10.6 million pesos), Sonora (7.2 million pesos), Chihuahua (6.1 million pesos), Querétaro (2.9 million pesos) and Jalisco (2.7 million pesos).

Although these entities account for the largest volume, there were also states with significant growth in remittances received by foreigners: Zacatecas (1,438.6%), Campeche (283%) and Tlaxcala (249.8%).