A surge in drug cartel violence along the Mexican border is terrorizing locals south of the Rio Grande — and driving more migrants north into the US, according to reports.
The ruthless gangs have unleashed a reign of terror in Mexican towns like Juarez that is so commonplace that 40% of adults have witnessed cartel violence over the previous three months, according to Border Report.
With border crossings surging, their turf wars are now over human smuggling routes, not just drug trafficking.
“Whatever the commodity is that’s flowing in either direction is controlled by whoever controls that territory,” Gary Hale, a nonresident fellow in drug policy and Mexican studies at Rice University’s Baker Institute told The Post.
“They were already taxing migrants coming through Mexico, but now there are so many migrants [and] they have done everything they can to control them as much as possible,” said Hale, a former Drug Enforcement Administration agent.
He said two Mexican gangs — the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels — control about half of the US border with Mexico, and that nothing and no-one gets across unless they get a cut.
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