As a “coyote” myself, I have doubts about the accuracy of the media on this topic. I’ll have to watch the 7 part series.
Most “coyote” are friends and family, not un-related businessmen. Go to the Mexican side of any border town in Texas. (I’ve been told it is the same on the rest of the border but have no firsthand experience there.)
The border towns have a bunch of small family owned businesses. Each family business has an family inventory of valid passports, visas, IDs, etc. IDs of men, women, boys, girls, fat, skinny, tall, short, etc. They rent these papers to illegals for about $5 for a half-hour.
Their customers come by referrals from previous customers. The result is that each family business has built a relationship/network with certain towns in the interior of Mexico.
The person who rents an ID walks across the bridge at rush hour when the bridge is congested with thousands of commuters. The check of IDs is extremely cursory, if at all. In the times I crossed the bridge, they did not look at my ID, and did not look at the IDs of anyone around me any closer than a distance of 5 or 6 feet as we walked past. So at 5 or 6 feet they could only see the IDs for 2 or 3 seconds.
The whole thing is a joke.
Of course, on the US side of the river, a member of the family business collects the IDs of the customers who rented them and takes them back across the bridge for the next customer.
The family businesses I’ve seen can have up to a couple hundred rentals a day. I’ve talked with many illegal Mexicans about this. They all agree that those who cross the desert and those who pay high prices are really stupid.
(Of course, there are some potential customers with whom the family businesses will not deal. Their networks often warn them of undesireables to avoid. So maybe the small percentage of undesireables have to pay the high priced coyotes.)
I suspect the media has no intention of reporting the truth or reality and has every intention to sensationalize to boost eyeballs and their own egos.
Read the articles. This is some good journalism by and honest reporter.
I have read half the articles and they are excellent review of situations that show that we have a more serious immigration/border problem than most imagine.
You are also right about rented ID business. My Brother and his mexican wife live in TJ...and confirm what you say. Some border crossings the ID’s are checked more closely than others..varies by time of day and location.
Are you saying that what you describe is legal? That it is entrepreneurship that everyone should admire and applaud?
Why do you call yourself a “coyote”?
Mrs. AV