Mexican immigration agents allowed a Hungarian woman who had previously been flagged by U.S. authorities to enter the country in exchange for a cash bribe. The incident comes when Mexican immigration officials have been unable to shake a long list of corruption allegations.
The alleged bribe occurred in the Mexico City International Airport when a Hungarian woman approached an immigration booth for passengers arriving in Mexico. According to information exclusively leaked to Breitbart Texas by a director-level source within Mexico’s National Migration Institute (INM), the woman presented her passport to the agent at the booth, and an initial scan showed a possible alert.
The agents took the woman to an office where they photographed her and performed a biometric scan. The scan revealed that the woman was named in an immigration alert filed by the U.S. government out of New York. The nature of the immigration alert or which agency it was filed on behalf of was not provided to Mexican authorities, and the Mexican authorities made no inquiries during the encounter.
The INM source revealed that as per the institute guidelines, they should have notified the U.S. government to gather more information and either detain the individual if they were wanted by a foreign agency or deny her entry and have her take the first flight out of Mexico.
The INM agents took the woman to another office to question her further. However, during that interview, the woman disclosed that she had $2,000 USD in cash and another $2,500 USD in a cash card.
The agents took the money and allowed the woman to go free, escorting her out of the facility. A search of the INM database revealed that the woman’s information was not put into the system as should have been done with any international traveler who enters the airport.
Another photograph captured the scene as the woman left the INM facilities.
In recent years, Mexican immigration authorities have been plagued by numerous accusations of widespread corruption, including INM Commissioner Francisco Garduno. The commissioner is currently facing federal criminal charges in connection with a series of corrupt practices that ended with a deadly fire that killed 40 migrants in Ciudad Juarez in 2023. In recent years, Breitbart Texas also exposed several cases of corruption, bribery, and even sexual harassment by INM directors towards staff.
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.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.