Robert Harris, associate director of the U.S. Border Patrol, said some groups do not care what they smuggle as long as it pays well. The United States has busted several smuggling rings recently. The FBI in Los Angeles earlier this month announced the arrest of 11 people on charges of running a human smuggling ring that brought hundreds of Ukrainians across the Mexican border into California. According to that indictment, these smugglers recruited people in Kiev and flew them to Mexico, providing them with valid Mexican visas and some training in English. Many crossed on foot or by boat near Tijuana.
Smugglers also are now more likely to be armed and violent.
There have been many cases in Mexico of coyotes robbing and raping their customers or abandoning them before they ever reach the border. There is more money and drugs involved and more violence against the Border Patrol. . . . It's pretty dangerous up there. News Jobs AP Shopping Archives Entertain.