Smugglers promote on TikTok their illegal border crossing services at the southern border
Coyotes also use the platform to offer work and give safety tips for crossing in the most risky areas.
TikTok /Cordon Press.
Human smugglers are using TikTok to promote their services for illegal migrant crossings from Mexico to the United States. Criminals also post "tips" to reduce risk in areas with the highest number of accidents and murders.
The so-called coyotes promote themselves through videos on the social network, almost as if they were a tourist company: they announce departure dates and information that they carry out crossings "with children and family". They also show cases of illegal crossings that they claim are successful.
These publications violate the platform's rules in the "promotion and facilitation of criminal activities" clause. Despite this, the accounts are not closed. Luis Dirvin Gracia, coordinator of the Centro Integral de Atención al Migrante de Ciudad Juárez expressed his concern regarding this new way for traffickers to advertise their illegal services:
Immigrants seek service on TikTok
According to a survey conducted by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to migrants in transit, more than half of these people search on digital platforms to possibly access the illegal border crossing service.
The IOM also stated in a report that since 2014, around 7,600 migrants have been reported dead or missing trying to pass illegally from Mexico to the United States.
"They can suffocate inside containers, seemingly in the desert as they are driven by smugglers who profit from a traffic in which migrants become merchandise," the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said.
Unusual job offer
Traffickers also use social media to offer a supposedly "safe job" for those with a car in Arizona who want to do the transport, claiming they will be able to charge between $3,000 and $15,000.
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