The southern border is a complete mess. Thankfully, with Trump at the helm, it’s improving.
But now Border Patrol uncovered a disturbing reality at the border that is raising eyebrows.
Authorities recently discovered Salvadoran illegal immigrant Stephen Marroquin-Mendez crammed inside a semi-truck’s cab cabinet, locked from the outside and unable to free himself.
Marroquin-Mendez told Homeland Security agents he had already paid $8,500 to be ferried across the Rio Grande into Texas, with another $8,500 due upon reaching Houston. From there, he planned to travel to Virginia to meet an aunt.
His staggering $17,000 smuggling fee reflects a new reality under President Donald Trump, as cartels scramble to keep their business afloat amid the administration’s historic border shutdown.
Smugglers are demanding exorbitant prices as Trump’s policies make illegal entry far more difficult. Mexican migrants, who once paid the lowest rates, now shell out at least $10,000 each, with prices reaching as high as $16,000, according to The Washington Times’ database of smuggling cases. Central Americans report paying anywhere from $16,000 to $17,000, with some forking over $30,000 or more to get across the border and into the U.S. interior.
Even more staggering, a Chinese couple caught hidden in a Hyundai Tucson admitted to paying $45,000 each to be smuggled in.
The dramatic price hikes are a direct consequence of Trump’s aggressive border policies, which have rendered illegal crossings nearly impossible compared to the chaos under Biden just a year ago. The Border Patrol, once overwhelmed with 10,000+ illegal crossings per day, now sees fewer than 500 encounters daily.
“Border crossings are down approximately 95%,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told reporters. “You talk to agents on the line, in their entire careers they’ve never seen crossing days as low as what they’re experiencing right now.”
The impact on smuggling cartels has been devastating. Once raking in billions from illegal immigration, cartels are now scrambling to adapt.
“The cartels in fact are enormously frustrated because they’ve never seen a clampdown like this in American history,” Miller added.
Jonathan Fahey, former federal prosecutor and acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, credited Trump’s crackdown on “catch-and-release” for upending cartel operations.
Under Biden, smugglers simply had to get migrants across the border and count on the U.S. government to release them. Now, under Trump, avoiding detection altogether is their only option—driving up costs and risks.
“It’s hard to get in now because you’ve got to be a ‘gotaway,’” Fahey explained. “That’s a lot more challenging.”
Fahey also noted that increased criminal prosecutions of smugglers have raised the stakes, further inflating prices.
“It’s a higher risk for the smugglers to get locked up, so you’re going to have to pay them more,” he said.
With traditional smuggling networks disrupted, cartels are increasingly turning to social media to find new drivers. Platforms like Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram have become key recruitment tools, even luring in juveniles.
Agents in Texas recently arrested a 17-year-old boy who had responded to a social media ad for drivers. He admitted he was promised $110 for each illegal immigrant he transported after picking them up near the border wall.
Other smugglers caught in the crackdown include Elver Eligio Aguilar-Cruz, a New Jersey resident recruited via Facebook to drive migrants from Arizona, and Luis Vega-Perez, a Memphis-area man who answered a Marketplace ad offering $6,000 to transport three migrants to Phoenix.
With Trump’s border shutdown holding firm, cartels are running out of options—and migrants are paying the price.
