U.S. Rep. Neal Dunn (R-Fla.), during a recent interview with the Federal Newswire, spoke out against China using cartels as a tool to fight against the United States.
“The cartels are really fighting against America,” Dunn said in the May 30 interview. “They want the money and, boy, do they make money. If you look at every human that comes to the border, let's just say 200,000. Multiply that times $8,000 each for the cartels allowing them to get there. Run that out over a year. You've got like $15 billion a year and that's not taxable profit. They're not paying taxes on that. That's just cash.”
Dunn said in the interview that China is supplying cartels with fentanyl and other substances because they “view us as their antagonist.” He said China is allowing cartels to wreak havoc in the U.S. through the influx of the dangerous, deadly drug. The cartels are willing to comply with these schemes because they are only concerned with money, he said.
The congressman added that the cartels are making as much as tens of billions of dollars from human trafficking and drug trafficking, as well as what they are making off smuggling immigrants across the border.
“This is the biggest human trafficking operation in the history of the world,” Dunn said.
He said the migrants are slaves when they enter the country as they often still are in debt and forced to work for the cartels. He also criticized the work of government officials, saying it is easy for migrants to get across the border and bring in contraband.
“If [the government] really cared about those people that are coming to the border, [they’d] stop making a business model for the cartels to bring them to the border, get them across," Dunn said, "And, by the way, [they] carry drugs with them when they come.”
The New York Post reported that the cartels offer passage across the border to migrants in the area for a fee. This illegal passage is in order to avoid being banned from the the U.S. for up to 5 years if migrants initially are denied entrance at the border, according to the Post.
It was also reported that this route is equally, if not more dangerous, as the cartels often force immigrants to smuggle illegal drugs and abduct them for human trafficking. The carters even have been said to amputate fingers if the immigrants are unable to come up with the money they owe.
The Washington Times reported in October 2022, that migrants from Mexico paid an average of $8,600 in fees for illegal border crossings last year. This amount represents an increase of approximately $2,000 compared to 2019. Migrants originating from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala were paying approximately $11,500 for their journey across the border, which is higher than the $9,000 paid in 2020 and the $7,900 paid in 2019.
Last year alone, according to the Times, the cartels made upward of $2.6 billion from illegal immigration, noticeably higher than in both the Barack Obama and Donald Trump administrations.
