Human smuggling networks have been hawking their services on Facebook, guaranteeing illegal entry to America for Central American migrants...
Human smuggling networks have been hawking their services on Facebook, guaranteeing illegal entry to America for Central American migrants, including unaccompanied children.
The smugglers, NBC News reported, are charging $8,000 for the '100 percent' safe voyage which includes a perilous passage through the U.S.-Mexico border that has claimed the lives of many.
The since-deleted messages were posted on public Facebook pages, some which were named 'Migrants from Various Countries in Mexico' and 'Migrants in the Mexico-U.S.A. Border Awaiting Hearing.'
A post written in Spanish promised migrants access to 'travel to Mexico to the United States. Costs $8,000. 100 percent safe.'
Another read, 'cross through Matamoros. You walk one hour, after in automobile until you arrive to your relative.'
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents detained six migrants from Mexico in Yuma, Arizona, last Tuesday after they were abandoned by their driver, a citizen of the United States, when the vehicle they were traveling in was stopped at a checkpoint. NBC News learned that human traffickers are using Facebook to promote illegal crossings to Central Americans and are guaranteeing passage over the Mexico-United States border for $8,000
Unaccompanied migrant children watch television at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility in Donna, Texas. Facebook messages seen by NBC News on public pages used by human smugglers providing illegal entry service to the United States warned parents that they would not be allowed to cross the U.S.-Mexico border if they are traveling with children
A group of migrants arrives in the United States on the Texas shore of the Rio Grande after crossing from Mexico on a raft piloted by smugglers last Tuesday
The smugglers updated the Facebook pages with several messages throughout the day.
Meanwhile, Central Americans looking to flee their native lands due to poverty and violence sought additional information on the pages about how to get to the U.S., ignoring warnings from President Joe Biden's administration that they would be turned away.
A purported smuggler, or 'coyote' as they're known to migrants, used a photo of a family sitting in what looked like an aircraft, thus ruling out crossing by land or water as the only methods of passage into the United States.
'Make your dream a reality in the United States. We are here to help you,' the person wrote. 'The journey is safe and reliable and the price is $4,500 leaving from Monterrey to San Antonio, Texas.'
NBC News found that the smugglers advertised prices and methods of contacts on the pages, too.
'It's ready. 3,000 to arrive at the line/6000 to jump to your destination. Whatever state. Pay when your relatives receive you,' one of the migrant smugglers wrote.
Social media networks, for example Facebook, have also been used in the past to promote the caravans of migrants that have departed from Honduras.
Pictured are six of the 31 undocumented immigrants from Guatemala, Mexico and El Salvador, who were found by CBP agents and local police at three stash houses in Laredo, Texas, last Monday
At least 52 undocumented immigrants were found inside a tractor trailer during a checkpoint Tuesday east of Victoria, Texas, CBP said
A minor walks over other children housed inside a pod for females at a holding facility for unaccompanied children that is operated by CBP in Donna, Texas
A spokesperson for Facebook told NBC news that the site does not allow pages that promote the exploitation and trafficking of humans. All of the pages that were observed by NBC News have been shut down.
In March, the House Energy and Commerce Committee took Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to task over the promotion of human trafficking on the platform and the mounting lies that smugglers were passing along to migrants.
'I'm talking about coyotes who are using your platform to spread this kind of information, to assist in this illegal activity that is resulting in horrible conditions for these people who are trying to come across the border,' Georgia Republican Congressman Buddy Carter, R-Ga said.
Zuckerberg told the Carter that Facebook was actively working on finding ways to prevent smugglers from hawking their services through the network.
A message on one of the pages highlighted the ongoing crisis of unaccompanied migrant children that behooves the Biden administration.
'Excuse me does anyone know if they are letting (people) with kids cross the bridge?' a person asked on March 24.
'Only if they enter alone,' one of the responses read, while another person said, 'they are not letting minors with parents pass.'
U.S. Customs and Border Protection data shows that 100,441 undocumented immigrants were encountered at the border in February, the most since June 2019 when the agency reported 104,311 encounters.
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