Groups of Central American and Caribbean migrants continue to use commercial flights from Mexico City to border cities like Reynosa, where, after paying a fee to immigration officials, they are released to cartel-connected human smugglers to continue their journey.

Breitbart Texas spoke with high-ranking INM officials who revealed that migrants can board airplanes and buses if they have the right type of permit and identification documents. However, those documents take months to process if done the traditional way.

An INM whistleblower revealed that for a cash fee of $2,000 to $3,000 USD, migrants are given the various needed documents within 48 hours.

“They can even have their relatives in the U.S. wire the money to bank accounts, and some of the agents also use Cash App,” the official said, adding that the practice is systemic, with field agents giving a portion of the money up the chain of command. “That is just the way it has been done and continues to be done.”

Once migrants are given the needed permits, they can fly or take buses to border cities like Reynosa, Matamoros, Tijuana, and others as they try to reach the U.S. border to request asylum, usually under claims of credible fear. Migrants usually use VivaAerobus, a low-cost commercial airline where one-way flights cost approximately $70 USD.

In cities like Reynosa and Matamoros in Tamaulipas, all migrants and asylum seekers are controlled by the Gulf Cartel. The migrants must pay a fee to be able to reach the border. In the case of migrants who fly into these cities, the Gulf Cartel has drivers who pick them up at the airport and take them to special hotels, a top Tamaulipas law enforcement official revealed to Breitbart Texas.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com. 

Williams Cortez from Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project contributed to this report.