Mexican cartels have hacked the Custom and Border Protection's phone app in an attempt to increase the number of migrants entering the U.S., the Washington Examiner reported.
The result has been an unlimited number of appointments being requested by migrants from around the world.
Not only that, the Mexican government is allowing any immigrant who enters the country from Guatemala to continue traveling to the U.S. border if they have obtained an appointment on the CBP One mobile app, the Examiner reported.
That's despite the Mexican government's National Immigration Institute (INM) earlier this summer ordering its immigration officials to turn away all non-Mexican citizens who do not have a CBP One app appointment, according a document reviewed by the Examiner.
Cartels are taking money from any immigrant who wishes to enter Mexico. Once immigrants show up at the Guatemala-Mexico or in the southern state of Chiapas, the INM will let them proceed.
"It's further evidence as this [Biden] administration continues to try to come up with a new security paradigm along that border that I don't think they really understand it. They don't understand the lengths and depths the cartels will continue to go to," said Chad Wolf, former acting Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary.
"As the administration continues to put these 'legal pathways' into place, that's music to the cartel's ears."
Cartels have been selling immigrants a service that provides them with an Internet connection through a virtual private network (VPN) – one that overrides a server so that the app cannot tell if migrant is in northern Mexico.
VPN services are being advertised in southern Mexico and on social media, according to a DHS intelligence document and advertisements reviewed by the Examiner.
Social media ads have been especially conducive to recruiting Haitians, Cubans, and Hondurans, the Examiner said.
Josh Trevino, chief of intelligence and research for the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation think tank, said the operation also has benefited the Mexican government via kickbacks from the cartels.
"The Mexican requirement is a cash cow. It's a cash grab," Trevino told the Examiner. "The Mexicans — they're not really partners, they're neighbors."
The CBP One mobile app was launched in October 2020 and allowed noncitizens in central or northern Mexico who seek to travel to the U.S. to schedule appointments.
"Mexico will certainly let people through if they have an appointment, they're sort of counting that as a de facto transit visa," Adam Isacson, director of defense oversight for the progressive immigrant advocacy organization the Washington Office for Latin America, told the Examiner. "It's sabotage and they know very well that people can't normally get an appointment unless they're north of Mexico City."
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