Immigration has been a top focus in the U.S. in 2024, an electoral year in which both candidates tried to convince constituents their acumen on stopping the flow of unauthorized migrants across the southern border. Much has been said about this issue throughout the Biden administration, with detractors pointing to crime, and a straining of resources as reasons increase border patrol and shut down the U.S.-Mexico border. But as promises of mass deportation and immigration crackdown continue in the U.S., some groups continue to benefit from an increase in irregular migration— organized crime groups.
Hundreds of thousands of migrants have crossed the border in 2024, escaping economic uncertainty, social crises, environmental devastation and more. As they made their way up north to the U.S., organized crime networks profited, not just from smuggling people displaced by their operations, but also through sophisticated extortion and kidnapping rings that have made the migrant economy one of their biggest profit makers, according to a new analysis from InSight Crime.
