The US Citizens Recruited to Smuggle Migrants

Migrants looking to enter the US from Mexico illegally often pay thousands of dollars to “coyotes,” or smugglers who transport them across the border. Once inside the US, they’re hidden in trailers or the trunks of cars to get past highway checkpoints where law enforcement is on the lookout. 

That’s where a largely hidden workforce comes in — people in the US, many of them citizens, who are recruited by smuggling operations to drive the vehicles through the checkpoints, hoping to avoid detection. Often these drivers are themselves barely getting by, and they risk time in federal prison if they’re caught.

Reporter Julia Love, who wrote about this shadow economy for Bloomberg Businessweek, joins this episode to tell the story of one of those drivers–a Texan named Dennis Wilson. Wilson also comes on the podcast to describe his experience–and to tell what happened when he was pulled over early one morning.

Read Julia Love’s story: https://bloom.bg/3kNxlRI 

Listen to The Big Take podcast every weekday and subscribe to our daily newsletter: https://bloom.bg/3F3EJAK 

Have questions or comments for Wes and the team? Reach us at [email protected].

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.