“I’ve been a journalist for more than 25 years, but I never thought I would see this,” Alfredo Corchado, an American journalist in Texas and Mexico, told told an audience at the Council on Foreign Relations on March 26.
What Corchado is seeing is the formation of a new industry: smugglers selling trips out of the United States. Although the trips, like those in reverse in the past, are expensive — up to $10,000 per person — many feel the price worth it to avoid the repercussions of deportation.
Those arrested and held for deportation are apt to spend weeks in detention, then after deportation, will be forbidden to visit the US for 10 years or longer, and are liable to lose their possessions and access to their bank accounts. In addition, when the government makes the decisions, they have no choice but to go back to where they’re sent. Many do not want to return to their home country, prefering a third, less undesirable destination instead. Many, for example, would prefer making their own way back to Chile, where large numbers were living before illegally coming to America.
Thus far, the numbers of those self-deporting remain small, far fewer than the numbers of illegals living in the US (estimated by some at around 18 million) or even the number deliberately allowed in by Biden (at least 9 million). Yet the industry is growing.
The bottom line is that opportunity is where you find it, and smugglers and reverse migrants are finding that the road goes both ways.
For more, see Breitbart News.