[♪ ominous music]
[Mariana Van Zeller] There are hundreds of people here.
Everywhere you look.
You just see groups of people waiting.
They're sitting with backpack.
This was me, nearly 20 years ago
on one of my first international assignments.
[speaking Spanish] Maria! I don't believe it!
How good. How are you?
[speaking Spanish].
[Mariana Van Zeller] I was doing a story about migrants
trying to make their way across Mexico and into
the United States.
The starting point for that journey was Tapachula.
A chaotic little town on Mexico's southern border,
where migrants hopped on board "La Bestia."
La Bestia, or "The Beast," is what migrants called the
dangerous freight trains they rode north for days on end.
The train keeps on jerking.
So, you, you have to keep a constant grip on the train,
and it's hard.
Back then, all you needed to reach the border was courage.
These days, I'm told you need a whole lot more.
Wow, this is so crazy.
This looks nothing like it used to.
This was the main train station, so you'd have
hundreds of migrants here every single day, basically
just hoping to get on the train to go north.
The train tracks are no longer here, but the migrants,
they still keep coming.
They have to come through this, this area.
Tapachula is still the first stop in Mexico for
thousands of migrants,
but the path north to the U.S. is now controlled
by a violent criminal underworld.
There's a new beast in town.
[gunshots]
[shouting]
[Mariana Van Zeller] That's why I've come back.
To try to get inside the most profitable migrant smuggling
machine the world has ever seen.
[theme music plays]
[Mariana Van Zeller] So, this is the central square in Tapachula.
The vast majority of the people that line up,
that are around here at the square, are migrants.
They all have backpacks, they have bags.
There are so many, it's crazy.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Years ago, migrants like these would
hop ride on the train and continue north.
But free rides are apparently no longer an option.
[Mariana Van Zeller] But what happens to the migrants
who do have money?
What exactly are they buying into?
That's what I want to understand,
which is why I'm heading to meet a man
I'm told is one of the key players
in this new people-smuggling pipeline.
I've been hearing about this guy for over a year now.
There were a lot of times where we thought we were gonna
finally meet him, a lot of false starts.
It never happened until, hopefully, today.
This is a big boss in this sort of operation.
[dog barking]
[Mariana Van Zeller] I think we're here.
Let me know if you guys see anyone.
Oh, yeah. Okay. I see him.
I think that's him, yeah.
[Mariana Van Zeller] We're calling him Jose, but his
nickname on the street is "King Coyote",
coyote being slang for a migrant smuggler.
He works mostly with migrants from South and Central America,
but has clients from as far away as India.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Uh-huh.
[Mariana Van Zeller] I've been reporting on the underworld
for nearly two decades.
This is the first time a black market operator has
referred me to their finance department.
[Mariana Van Zeller] I was certain that no one is making
that kind of money smuggling anything in Mexico without,
what you might call, "permission."
[Mariana Van Zeller] Wow.
[Mariana Van Zeller] From the cartels' perspective,
I understand the logic of this new system.
By allowing these transport companies to exist,
it professionalized the business of people smuggling,
making it more efficient and more lucrative.
[Mariana Van Zeller] I had my doubts about the rosy picture
he's painting of his operation, but I'm eager to learn more.
And he agrees to connect me with one of his smugglers.
A man responsible for transporting migrants from
Tapachula, north towards Mexico city.
We're heading to meet this contact and he's been
incredibly nervous to talk to us.
And he's very suspicious still, so we just,
for all of our sake, just, you know,
make him feel as comfortable as possible.
I see him over there.
So, just put the cameras down for a second and we can
pick back up when he's inside the car.
Camera down.
Sure enough, he doesn't want to talk.
I have to practically beg him to get into the car.
But he finally does.
I'm eager to hear what it's like on the frontlines
of the people smuggling business.
[♪ mysterious music]
[Mariana Van Zeller] This man, who we'll call Ernesto,
is part of a new breed of transport company
making millions shuttling migrants across Mexico
and into to the U.S.
[Mariana Van Zeller] From there, he drives them north
towards Mexico City.
[Mariana Van Zeller] It's a bit shocking.
His boss, King Coyote, told me they charge
12 grand per person,
which seems like a lot for such inhumane treatment.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Like his boss, he's quick to
justify their approach.
[Mariana Van Zeller] I'm doubtful about that, but
I don't press him because I want to keep him talking.
[Mariana Van Zeller] This description of the cartels'
involvement sounds more threatening than
King Coyote's version.
I want to hear more,
but I think talk of the cartels has spooked him.
He cuts our interview short, after less than 20 minutes.
Okay, so we just dropped off Ernesto.
The interesting thing that we weren't able to film is that
his wife was actually in the back seat
in-between the two cameras.
Apparently, they discussed and the only way that he'd feel
comfortable talking to us was if she was present, as well.
So, that was interesting.
These are the trucks that he says they actually
transport people in.
That's exactly it.
You know, it's really hard with these interviews,
we were trying to make him comfortable, but it's always
sort of a balance of how much you push and pushing too much
will mean we'll lose access.
So, we're hoping that we can ask more questions and see
more of the operation in the following days.
But more access to King Coyote's operation never arrives.
So, we're stuck chasing access to other people-smugglers.
Some with a very different pitch to migrants.
We're heading to meet a guy,
sort of involved in the migrant trade.
There's a boat apparently waiting for us
to take us to him.
And they just told us to, you know, have our eyes wide open,
ears wide open in this area because there is a lot of
cartel presence here.
[engine rumbling]
Okay. I see. Yeah.
There's a boat coming this way.
He's, uh, yeah, he's coming right towards us.
Yeah, so he's, uh, our guy is the guy wearing the mask and
there's a bunch of people on the boat.
[Mariana Van Zeller] It's a little awkward,
he's not saying anything.
From the looks of things, we're wading right into the
middle of his business.
[boat engine idling]
[Mariana Van Zeller] I'm in Southern Mexico talking to a
smuggler who's asked us to call him Pantera.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Despite the cartels being paid off,
these boats must run a gauntlet of armed opportunists.
[Pantera] Uh-hmm.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Her entire life's savings,
spent on a gamble,
that this little boat will make it to its destination.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Just like those who travel by road, the
boat will take these migrants north before they are shuttled
to Mexico City.
From there, they are stuffed like any other product into
18-wheelers, for a drive to the U.S. border
that could take up to two days.
It's a leg of the journey that has become synonymous
with tragedy.
[CNN Reporter] They have found 50 migrants dead inside a
truck in San Antonio, what they now believe to be one of
the deadliest smuggling incidents in U.S. history.
[Mariana Van Zeller] These migrants sell everything they
own for the chance to make it to the U.S., and this is how
they're treated along the way.
[speaking Spanish].
[Mariana Van Zeller] Uh-hm okay, they're saying they have to go,
because the sun is going down.
They have to start their journey.
[Mariana Van Zeller] What's becoming clear is that the
people doing the actual work of smuggling migrants,
people like Pantera and the transporter I met in the car,
know the details of their job, but not much more.
It's only bosses like King Coyote that are familiar
with the actual terms of this ugly business.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Thinking back to our conversation,
what's still unclear is this,
even if companies like King Coyote's,
have learned how to work with the cartels,
how could they possibly move thousands of migrants
past so many police?
[Mariana Van Zeller] So this guy we're meeting is very nervous.
We were supposed to meet him at a train station.
He's moved locations on us a few times already.
And it's understandable why he's nervous.
He's essentially a whistleblower who's going to be
talking to us about corruption within the government.
[Mariana Van Zeller] I'm talking to a federal immigration agent
turned whistleblower, who we'll call Miguel.
He says it works like this, on every route north,
there are dozens of checkpoints.
Migrants who have hired a cartel-approved company like
King Coyote's, are able to pass through
without getting hassled.
That's part of what their $12,000 ensures.
[Mariana Van Zeller] On the other hand, migrants
attempting the journey on their own, like the Venezuelan
family I met in Tapachula, are forced to pay small bribes at
every checkpoint along the way.
[Mariana Van Zeller] It's a system designed to maximize
the exploitation of desperate people, while simultaneously
enriching both the cartels and corrupt government officials.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Sadly, this sort of collusion
between the cartels and the Mexican State isn't new.
[Reporter] Caught on tape, Mexican police apparently
carrying out orders for gangsters.
[Mariana Van Zeller] It's been a problem in Mexico
for decades now.
So much so, that just this year,
Mexico's former head of public security
was found guilty of drug trafficking.
This is the type of power that the cartels wield
throughout the country.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Uh-hmm.
[Mariana Van Zeller] The immigration officer's
accusations hang in the air as I head towards the border.
The stories the Venezuelans told me
suddenly make much more sense.
[Mariana Van Zeller] I've kept in touch with the Venezuelans.
And the last I've heard, they were able to slip past the
authorities and hitch a ride north on one of the trains.
Riding La Bestia is apparently still an option,
but much less common.
Which makes sense, considering all the vested interests
in the new system.
[Mariana Van Zeller] After almost two weeks on the road,
I finally arrived at Mexico's northern border.
It's the last leg of the journey and we've gained access
to yet another transport company,
run by a rival of King Coyote's,
a man who calls himself Zorro.
So, we got a call from Zorro.
Apparently, there's a group of a few migrants
that have just arrived.
They're going to cross to the U.S. soon.
And he's given us this address for this stash house where the
migrants are staying before they cross the border
[speaking Spanish].
[Mariana Van Zeller] Okay. Around the corner.
It's around the corner from here. Okay.
[Man] Walkie-talkies down.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Walkie-talkies and cameras down.
[Man] And camera down. Let's do it quickly.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Yeah. So get out? Okay.
So they're saying right now.
[distant sirens]
[speaking Spanish].
[♪ dramatic music]
[Mariana Van Zeller] We're witnessing one of the last
hurdles for migrants on this side of the border,
the final payment before crossing,
which is split between the transport company
and the cartel.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Uh-hmm.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Um...
He says he's going to make a phone call to his family,
because he's the only one who hasn't paid yet.
And, uh, he wants to ask them when the money is coming in.
[Mariana Van Zeller] The subtext of that last bit was chilling,
but also easy to miss,
"I want my brother here. We want him here with family."
In other words, please don't hurt him.
[Mariana Van Zeller] I'm in a stash house in northern Mexico,
not far from the border,
where migrants are held captive until
their payment is delivered.
[Mariana Van Zeller] We depart.
According to King Coyote, these sorts of confrontations
are common on both sides of the border.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Despite the thinly veiled threats,
I'm told that later that evening Angel's sister came through
with the money.
He'll be crossing with the others in the coming days.
[speaking Spanish].
[Mariana Van Zeller] The next morning, I meet up
with Zorro again.
He's transporting a different group across the border;
migrants who've already paid their part.
Super tight quarters here, we have a driver.
Zorro sitting next to me here too in the front row.
And then four migrants are in the back of the truck.
Uh, we are heading to the drop off point, it's about
a 20-minute drive, where everyone will get out of the
car and the journey across the desert starts for them.
[Mariana Van Zeller] The migrants slip through a
rickety barbed wire fence and begin walking.
But once they cross, they'll face another one to three days
of hiking through the Sonoran desert, until they reach
their pickup location.
[sirens]
[dog barking]
[Mariana Van Zeller] As for what happens to migrants on
the other side of the border.
You don't have to look too hard.
Even TikTok provides clues.
Black market transport companies post ads
recruiting drivers.
They're looking for Americans willing to shuttle migrants
from the border into urban centers,
where they can effectively disappear.
Drivers make thousands of dollars per trip,
if they can make it past U.S. Law enforcement.
[Cop] What we're trying to do is position ourselves
at choke points.
I'm, uh, right here at Pearce and 191.
Where we believe that they're going to have to come through
us in order to get to their final destination.
[Mariana Van Zeller] We spent one night with the
Cochise County, Arizona sheriff's department.
And witnessed the chaos firsthand.
[Cop] He's gonna run. We are northbound.
[sirens]
Driver, step out of the vehicle and face away from me!
Be advised, as soon as I activated my lights,
the vehicle is not stopping.
Driver, stick your hands out the window!
Put your hands behind your back.
How many more do you got inside the car?
[Mariana Van Zeller] These arrests may seem like a win
for law enforcement.
[Cop] You have the right to remain silent.
Anything that you say can and will be used against you
in the court of law.
You have the right to talk to a lawyer and have them present...
[Mariana Van Zeller] But the reality is that each year,
thousands of migrants get through.
And the ones who don't will often try again.
In a nutshell,
that's why the people-smuggling business is booming.
Because for the world's most vulnerable people,
the dream of living in America
is only available on the black market.
In case you're wondering,
the Venezuelan migrants I spoke with
crossed the border in May of 2023,
after an eight-month journey through seven countries.
They surrendered to authorities in Texas and
are currently living in the U.S.
And awaiting an asylum hearing, along with nearly
1.6 million others.
Captioned by Cotter Media Group.