As thousands of migrants continue to arrive at Mexico’s southern border bound for the U.S., immigration officials have been making and selling asylum cards for profit.
Breitbart Texas obtained exclusive photographs that captured the moment when an agent with Mexico’s National Migration Institute is making cards that had already been sold to human smugglers for $3,000 USD. During the investigation, Breitbart Texas spoke with top officials with INM in Mexico City who revealed the way the black market for humanitarian asylum cards operates.
The cards are meant to be free and are issued by INM agents, however, migrants requesting asylum must undergo a process where they are run through Mexico’s Commission for Refugee Aid (COMAR) or other institutions like the foreign relations ministry to document the claim as well as their legal status in the country before continuing on. The cards are only to be made during certain hours at INM offices in a “sterile” area that is free of phones and other electronic devices as well as in the presence of the individual requesting the special status.
However, those same cards are sold on the black market for $3,000 USD by INM agents without any background investigations. These cards are used by human smugglers to move migrants throughout the country or be resold.
The photographs were taken at an INM office, where one agent is seen entering after hours and heading over to the area where he begins printing 35 cards.
While the agent is printing, he is seen checking the names on the cards. Another photograph captured the moment when the agent is seen making a phone call, even though he is in the “sterile” area.
The agent then places the cards in a small shoulder bag and leaves the office.
The photographs come at a time when Mexico is seeing a record-setting number of migrants legally and illegally. The ongoing issue has become a big money maker for cartel-connected human smuggling organizations. Those organizations rely on high-ranking INM agents.
Breitbart Texas has previously exposed INM agents in acts of corruption such as making fraudulent travel documents, demanding bribes, assaulting migrants at detention centers, and even a top INM director sexually harassing a security officer.
Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to Mexico City and the states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities. The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by “Williams Cortez” from Baja California.
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