$7,000: the average price paid by each Mexican to cross the border illegally in 2022

$6,937. That was the average cost paid by a Mexican citizen to enter the United States illegally in 2022. The Ministry of the Interior of the Government of Mexico published the information, stating that men paid an average of $6,565 to the so-called "coyotes," to emigrate to the U.S., while women paid $7,839.

The Government of Mexico in collaboration with the United Nations (UN) and immigration authorities, conducted a survey, Migration Surveys of Mexico's Northern and Southern Border, and asked deported citizens between July and November of last year how much they paid to gain access to the United States. "Surveys are a source of information with an empirical, objective and human basis that allow us to establish the effects and benefits of migration, from a labor and human rights perspective," said Rocio Gonzalez Higuera, the head of the Migration Policy, Registration and Identity of Persons Unit (UPMRIP) which is one of the institutions in charge of conducting the survey.

What are 'coyotes' and how do they operate?

If you want something, it will cost you. This could easily be the motto of the coyotes, those individuals who prey on people who are desperate to get into the U.S. However, they do so illegally and without guaranteeing them any kind of security. They are transported to points near the border by routes hidden from the surveillance of border agents, so as not to be detected.

Those who want to migrate to the United States but do not have the necessary documentation to do so legally end up turning to coyotes. In return, they have to pay them huge amounts of money. The Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA) found that immigrants who had to resort to this paid the coyotes around $10,000.