Rolling Stone Magazine published a report in late November that quickly went viral: in it, the outlett revealed that members of president-elect Donald Trump's transition team were discussing "how much to invade Mexico" as a way to tackle drug cartels head on. A source consulted by the publication even went as far a to use the term "soft invasion", explaining that American special forces would be sent covertly into the country to assassinate top cartel leaders.
The report quickly reached Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum, who dismissed it by calling it "entirely a movie", adding that her administration "will always defend our sovereignty" and that "Mexico is a free, independent, sovereign country – and that is above everything else."
Nevertheless, rumors of the next administration tightening up its efforts against cartels have continued to grow since and authorities at the border are now claiming that criminal organizations are becoming desperate, turning to new tactics to smuggle narcotics across the border before Trump's inauguration in January, according to NewsNation.
One of those tactics is a concept called "blind mules" which, in essence, entails using unsuspecting drivers who unknowingly smuggle drugs over the border. Cartel members then use trackers to retrieve the drugs on the U.S. side once they make it through.
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol's San Diego Sector is reporting that smugglers are attaching magnets and GPS trackers to vehicles to stash their drugs. "Think of it as any other business," said former Homeland Security agent Victor Avila to the news outlet. "You have your product that you have to get out, and if you don't get out that product, you don't get paid. And so they will resort to whatever it is that they have to resort to to move that product."
On Wednesday, a report by Telemundo, revealed that cartels are now also working side-by-side with the infamous Venezuelan gang "Tren de Aragua" to extort migrants at border cities, an operation which can generate between $70 and $100 million every month in Chihuahua alone
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