As Immigration Remains Top Focus in U.S. Politics, Organized Crime Groups Continue Making Huge Profits

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.

"The abuse of migrants as a form of criminal activity has taken on increased significance," said Yael Schacher, director for the Americas and Europe at Refugees International. "As the enforcement system has ratcheted up tremendously, migrants have effectively been led straight into the hands of smugglers and become much more reliant on them."

One of those groups that have seen profits from increased migration is Colombia's Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces (Autodefenses Gaitanistas de Colombia, or AGC), who have seized near-total control over the migrant economy in the country's Darien Gap region, which has been increasingly used by South American migrants seeking to reach the U.S. by land. The group has been able to transform the jungle into a multimillion-dollar business, according to the analysis.

"The [migrant economy] has become their primary source of revenue [in this area of Colombia]," said Caitlyn Yates, an expert on migration in this region. "Even the trafficking of cocaine has taken a backseat."

InSight Crime reports that the AGC generates revenue from the migrant economy by primarily exporting formal and informal businesses, imposing a "tax" of roughly 10% on their profits. That includes boat companies that ferry migrants across the Gulf of Uruba, guides who lead migrants through the Darien to the Panamanian border, and local hotels, restaurants, street vendors, and other businesses catering to migrants. They have also taken a more direct involvement in migrant smuggling, creating networks of subcontractors who offer migration packages, providing security on the Colombian side of the Darien and more.

But few criminal groups have gained the power of recognition through undocumented migration like Venezuela's "mega gang" Tren de Aragua, who have established permanent presence in Colombia, Peru and Chile. As migration exploded, the gang first started controlling crossings on the Colombia-Venezuela border. But as they gained control, the group went on to offer its own migrant transport services that include comprehensive package deals covering transportation, accommodation, and food for the entire journey.

The group has quickly gained notoriety internationally, which has led them to become targets of law enforcement in the U.S., Peru, Colombia and abroad. In July 2024, the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) labeled Tren de Aragua a transnational criminal organization, underscoring what officials described as an "escalating threat" to American communities. Politicians, like President-elect Donald Trump, have also called out the gang, falsely arguing they have "overtaken" American cities.

Mexican drug cartels, like the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels, have also come into the picture, making huge profits from taxing coyotes transporting migrants through areas they control and even installing their own human smuggling infrastructure, extortion and migrant kidnappings.

"The kidnapping market has grown immensely," Ari Sawyer, an expert on migration dynamics and the security situation in Mexico told InSight Crime. "Organized crime groups saw a ripe opportunity to double down on smuggling, but they've become so well-organized that they also operate kidnapping and extortion rings alongside that."

"Everybody is looking to get a little cut," Sawyer added.