Drug trafficking

Drug Trafficking On Southwest Border 'Worse Than Ever'

Mexican Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) remain the greatest criminal drug threat to the United States. According to Jack Riley, Acting Deputy Administrator for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), numerous TCOs are operating in the United States, including the Sinaloa Cartel, which uses its expansive resources in Mexico to smuggle and transport drugs into the US.

Mexican TCO operations typically take the form of a supply chain where operators are insulated from one another. Each operator is only aware of his or her own function. In this way, if an operator is arrested, that individual cannot reveal the rest of the network to law enforcement. They typically transport illicit drugs over the Southwest border through ports of entry using hidden compartments in passenger vehicles or tractor trailers.

Once in the US, the TCOs rely on an extensive network of family and friends to run drug trafficking operations in the US. Additionally, TCOs can rely on gangs—national-level, neighborhood, and street-level—for transportation and distribution. Not only do gangs already have a customer base for drug distribution, they also profit through drug transportation activities and enforcement of drug payments.