Cartel Leader Says Trump's Crackdown Hurts Smuggling
An anonymous senior Sinaloa Cartel leader told CNN — in an interview summarized by Fox News — that President Donald Trump's intensified enforcement at the southern border has made cartel smuggling operations more difficult. The source and reporting say cartel brokers have raised migrant‑smuggling fees from roughly $6,500 earlier this year to nearly $10,000, leaving many migrants unable to pay and deeply indebted while U.S. deputies and officials note growing desperation among trafficking networks.
Crime
Immigration
National Security
🔍 Key Facts
- A senior, anonymous Sinaloa Cartel member told CNN reporter David Culver that Trump’s crackdown has made their job 'tougher' (quoted: 'Oh yeah').
- Smuggling fees reportedly rose from about $6,500 per migrant earlier this year to nearly $10,000, according to deputies cited in the report.
- Fox News republished/summarized the CNN interview, highlighting cartel operational strain, higher costs, and migrants accruing heavy debt.
📍 Contextual Background
- Department of Defense contingency guidance listed priority missions during a shutdown in the following order: operations to secure the U.S. Southern Border; Middle East operations; the U.S. missile defense project Golden Dome for America; depot maintenance; shipbuilding; and critical munitions.
- During a U.S. federal government shutdown, active-duty military personnel and deployed National Guard members must continue to perform their assigned duties but their pay is delayed until the shutdown ends.
- Civilian personnel whose work the Department of Defense designates as 'excepted' continue to work during a government shutdown, while other Department of Defense civilian employees are furloughed.
- The Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 provides that government employees automatically receive back pay after a government shutdown.
- Video footage captured an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer pushing a visibly upset Ecuadoran woman to the ground outside an immigration court at the 26 Federal Plaza building in Manhattan.
- The Department of Homeland Security released a statement saying the officer was being relieved of current duties while a full investigation was conducted and denouncing the officer's conduct as unacceptable.