Indians pay US$ 21,000 to cartels to help illegally cross over American border, lawmakers told

PTI

Washington, February 4

Criminal transnational organisations called cartels on an average charge US$ 21,000 from Indians to help them illegally cross over the American border, an Arizona Sheriff has told lawmakers here.

The minimum being charged by a cartel for a foreign national to illegally come into the United States is US$ 7,000, Sheriff Mark Dannels of Cochise County, Arizona, told members of the House Judiciary Committee here this week.

Informing the lawmakers that the border along Mexico is not secure, Dannels said criminal transnational organisations called cartels control the south of the US border.

“South of it's all controlled. They control who comes across. There's prices based on who you are. You're a terrorist coming from a different country,” he said.

“I think India was US$ 21,000, for example. But the minimum is, like, around US$ 7,000 right now. Most of these people don't have it,” he said in response to a question from Congressman Barry Moore.

“So, when they come across the country, though, they might go through a processing, as the honorable judges talked about, but they're servant to the cartels at the end, which is usually for sex trade, gangs, drugs, labour, you name it, I have seen no win-win in this,” he said.

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