One of the latest tactics drug and human smuggling organizations are using to further their illicit cross-border activities involves taking advantage of lonely hearts, luring people searching for love south of the border, and turning them into so-called “blind mules.”
“They’re using a dating app to recruit somebody into Tijuana,” Chief Patrol Agent Justin De La Torre of the San Diego Sector said. “That person meets up with someone—and doesn’t know it—but they’ve got a magnet load of drugs underneath their car or a person put in the trunk of their car, and then that person drives into the United States.”
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) took The Epoch Times for a ride-along with De La Torre and behind the scenes at the San Ysidro Port of Entry—the busiest land border crossing in the Western Hemisphere.
The Epoch Times also had exclusive conversations with San Diego Director of Field Operations Sidney Aki and Port Director Mariza Marin of the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
Previously, under the Biden administration, border agents were tasked with humanitarian efforts as opposed to enforcement of immigration laws.
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The recent policy shift, the San Diego leaders and CBP officials told The Epoch Times, has allowed the agency to achieve the most secure border in their lifetimes and in American history.
But the cartels have not been dissuaded, Aki, Marin, and De La Torre stressed. The criminal organizations continually adapt, using new and old strategies to maintain their human and drug smuggling operations.
“Cartels are basically a business,” Aki said. “I’ve been in service for roughly 30 years. I’ve seen narcotics come through trunks, through roof panels, through quarter panels to rear panels to tires to spare tires—everything. We continue to see that, but we also see new, innovative ways.”
Dating, Social Media Apps
One method cartels use to create a blind mule involves dating apps.
Someone from the United States matches with a cartel member, who lures the individual south of the border for dinner, a movie, or drinks, while another cartel member loads the distracted person’s vehicle with narcotics, or in some cases, a person.
When the date is over, and it’s time to drive back across the border into the United States, unbeknownst to the individual searching for a romantic connection, he or she becomes an international drug or human smuggler in the process.
If the blind mule’s load goes undetected by border agents, a stateside cartel member will track down the car and retrieve the package of drugs. If it’s humans that were smuggled, they’ll vacate the vehicle at their earliest convenience.
Stalking
A more sinister method cartels use to manipulate and exploit blind mules involves intimately tracking them.
Tens of thousands of individuals cross from San Diego into Tijuana through the San Ysidro Port of Entry every day. An average of about 42,000 personal vehicles cross the border from Mexico to San Diego through the port of entry daily. Many are going to and returning from work, school, shopping, or doctor’s appointments.
The cartels are interested in these predictable travelers.
Often, a magnet with illegal drugs and GPS will be attached to a car so cartels can track and relay the location to someone on the U.S. side of the border. Aki and Marin said they’ve seen video surveillance of a suspect retrieving packages from a blind mule’s vehicle.
“The driver is unwitting in this whole thing,” Marin said. “They’re innocent, but because they have a regular routine and they park in a public place—smuggling organizations look out for that.”
—Troy Myers; Stacy Robinson
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—Stacy Robinson
