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Cartels, UN, and NGOs Fuel U.S. Border Crisis – A Report from Colombia

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12 minute read

From the Center for Immigration Studies

By Todd Bensman

A new Center for Immigration Studies video report uncovers one of the world’s most organized human smuggling operations. It operates out of a northwest Colombia village named Capurgana and is controlled by a paramilitary organization called the Gaitanist Self Defense Force of Colombia (a/k/a the Clan del Golfo), which controls the area with an iron fist.

Todd Bensman, the Center’s national security fellow, spent nearly two weeks investigating the human smuggling routes from Colombia to Panama’s Darien Gap. His trip included hours of travel by boat across the Uraba Gulf to a cartel-controlled landing site in Colombia. He also visited a UN run/cartel-controlled staging area, speaking with migrants and NGO staff and even members of the cartel.

The video highlights:

  • Details about the Gaitanista Gulf Clan’s control of the smuggling routes.
  • Information on the migrant population passing through the Darien Gap with the aid of the cartel and the NGOs – over two million migrants from over 150 nations, including hundreds on the terrorist watch list, in recent years.
  • Who makes it all possible? Government officials, banks, NGOs, and the United Nations.
  • Footage of migrants traveling through Colombia’s Capurgana village to the Darien Gap en route to the U.S.
  • An assessment of President Mulino’s Darien Gap closure initiative.

By CIS on October 2, 2024

(0:10) You are seeing the most well-oiled industrialized human smuggling assembly line machine anywhere on the planet. It roars all day and night far beyond American awareness, in and all around this far northwest Colombia village named Capurgana.

(0:34) As far away as it is, this people-moving machine in far northwestern Colombia matters to the American public because it has mainlined nearly two million foreign nationals, like these, the last few years into American cities. But, also ones like these, including hundreds on the US terrorism watch list and criminal aliens among total strangers from 150 nations, like China.

Boatload by boatload. Across the Gulf of Uraba and into the famous Darien Gap migration chokepoint to Panama, and on to the US southern border.

(1:20) They arrive on buses and taxis in towns on one side of the Gulf, and then boat across to towns on the other side and head into the Darien Gap. A flow that carries suspected terrorists, like these Afghans Panama recently discovered and pulled off the trails on its side, or like this Somali terrorist a few years ago, and Chinese nationals and strangers from every nation adversarial to the United States.

(1:49) At issue is that none of this should be happening right now on the Gap’s Colombia side. But the machine is running just as strong today as it was before a new regional deal where Panama and Colombia are supposed to close the Darien Gap for the first time ever.

(2:10) On July 1, 2024, the new president of Panama, José Raúl Mulino, with the supposed essential backing of the Biden-Harris White House and Colombia, launched an unprecedented new policy to choke off the Darien Gap, which, with any actual follow-through, would dramatically improve U.S. national and border security.

The plan relied heavily on Colombia’s partnership and a signed American agreement on July 1 to support that closure plan financially and diplomatically.

But, the Center for Immigration Studies went to Colombia to gauge how it was all working out and found, instead of closure on the Colombia side, a stunning reality.

(2:54) A tight-knit partnership between a paramilitary organization called the Gaitanist Self-Defense Force of Colombia – also known as the Clan del Golfo – that with an iron fist rules all that goes on in this region, and the Colombian government, banks, the United Nations, and a wide range of non-governmental migration advocacy groups.

Together, the legitimate and illegitimate run a vast, well-oiled human smuggling machine that pumps humanity to the American border, unimpeded, profitably – and wittingly – for all involved.

(3:34) It all starts with the Gaitanistas, the Clan del Golfo – so named for its control of the Uraba Gulf’s smuggling lanes to the Panamanian border and dozens of towns and villages that line the Gulf of Uraba.

In 2023, top U.S. law enforcement officials, announcing the extradition of a top Clan leader to New York State, described the paramilitary group as the most violent and powerful criminal organization in all of Colombia:

“…To commit brutal acts of violence, terror, and retaliation…to exert control over vast territorial regions of Colombia and its people…The CDC used military tactics and weapons to control the most lucrative cocaine trafficking region within Colombia…Its paramilitary organization’s thousands of soldiers, including sicarios or hitmen as they’re called, murdered, assaulted, kidnapped, tortured, and assassinated….”

(4:41) In Panama recently, the director general of the country’s National Border Service (SENAFRONT) explained to the Center that a major diplomatic push was underway to get Colombia on board with its Darien Gap closure plan, which includes going after the Gaitanista Gulf Clan.

Two months into the Panama shutdown plan, no impact was evident on the Colombia side. In fact, quite the opposite.

(5:08) The Center for Immigration Studies went to look and found the Gulf Clan so proud of its humming machine that it granted access to a clandestine boat dock and one of two camps in Acandi.

“This is a primary staging area for people that are heading into the Darien Gap into Panama. This is the dock, and behind me, you’re seeing immigrants that are actually loading right now as we speak on their way to the trailheads. The trailheads are probably still a good 20 or 30 miles from here. There is a process in place – a very organized process – because so many hundreds of thousands of people have come through here over the past few years to take advantage of Joe Biden’s policy of creating a super highway out of the Darien Gap. Very organized activity. You’ve got their equipment for traveling into the Gap, which has already arrived by an earlier boat. They’ll be matched with their tickets and… Okay, another boat has just come in.

“Just a non-stop assembly line. Very well organized. The town assembly has organized a conveyor belt assembly line, labor force. There’s also police who are overseeing this operation. We’re seeing welcome signs and migrant camps. Very well-oiled.”

(7:03) The Center found marital bliss between the Clan, the Colombian government, and even banks.

(7:20) With permitted access in Acandi, the Center toured a Gulf Clan-controlled migrant camp, though no filming was allowed inside. Operatives control access on the perimeter. So, who was allowed inside?

Colombian banks and Western Union providing money wiring services, nonprofit groups providing food, medicine, and all manner of assistance to immigrants arriving and departing for obvious trips into the nearby Darien Gap.

(8:07) At the Clan-controlled ferry boat docks in Necoclí and Turbo, where migrants board, Colombian federal migration officers check papers and let obvious immigrants board Clan-controlled ferries over to staging areas.

Municipal officials charge a toll tax on each and every migrant before they can board. All worked openly together for the common interest aim of moving mass volumes of totally obvious migrants that everyone involved well knows will illegally breach the next six nations and then the American border.

(8:58) In and around the UN and NGOs, Gulf cartel operatives charge immigrants as much as $300 per head cash for permission to buy a ferry ticket and cross the Gulf … then hundreds more for a guide once they arrive in towns like Capurganá and Acandi.

They tried to charge even me as my taxi entered the ferry boat terminal in Turbo, stopping the taxi, but then looking in through the window and determining that I was no immigrant and letting us through.

(9:51) Much in the way of U.S. national and homeland security is riding on Panama’s plan to close the Darien Gap. The Biden/Harris White House was supposed to help Panama pressure its ally Colombia to shut this down. Promised American money for deportation flights out of Panama hasn’t showed up, forcing Panama to keep its side of the border open still.

(10:15) But the Clan del Golfo, the United Nations, migrant help groups, the Colombian government – and thousands upon thousands of illegal immigrants who will all end up living in America – are still on the machine.

All for one and one for all here in northwestern Colombia.

I’m Todd Bensman, Center for Immigration Studies in Colombia.

 

Related:

Panama Tribal Chiefs Swamped by Migrants Slam US, UN, NGOs

Progress Report: Has Panama Closed the Notorious ‘Darien Gap’ Mass Migration Route to the U.S. Border as Promised?

Excerpts from a CIS Conversation with Director General Jorge Gobea, head of Panama’s National Border Service

Panama Border Security Chief Says Many U.S.-Bound Terror Suspects Caught in Darien Gap Region

Biden-Harris open border is destroying an indigenous tribe’s land and way of life

Biden/Harris made empty promises to stop migrants in Panama — but the flood continues

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illegal immigration

Trump to declare national emergency on border, issue executive orders

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From The Center Square

By

After being sworn in as the 47th president of the United States, President Donald Trump said he will sign “a series of historic executive orders … to begin the complete restoration of America and the ‘Revolution of Common Sense.’”

The first action he will take will be to declare a national emergency at the U.S. southern border, he said. Trump did not mention the northern border, which saw an unprecedented number of illegal crossings, record number of terrorists entering the U.S., and increased national security threats under the Biden administration, The Center Square reported.

“All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came,” Trump said. “We will reinstate my ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy. I will end the practice of catch and release. I will send troops to the southern border to repel the disastrous invasion of our country.”

Trump said he will designate Mexican cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. The designation will also apply to violent transnational criminal organizations including the violent Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua, which is now operating in at least 22 states, The Center Square reported.

By invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, Trump will direct the federal government “to use the full and immense power of federal and state law enforcement to eliminate the presence of all foreign gangs and criminal networks bringing devastating crime to U.S. soil, including our cities and inner cities,” he said.

The act will be used to remove all cartel and gang members in the country illegally.

“As Commander in Chief, I have no higher responsibility than to defend our country from threats and invasions and that is exactly what I am going to do. We will do it at a level that nobody’s ever seen before,” he said.

Trump is expected to issue 10 executive orders Monday to implement border security measures. They include ending the Obama-era catch-and-release policy Trump ended in his first term, which former President Joe Biden reinstated. The policy led to more than 14 million foreign nationals illegally entering the country, including more than two million who evaded capture known as gotaways under the Biden administration, The Center Square exclusively reported.

Trump will reinstate a policy he created in his first term, Remain in Mexico, or “Migrant Protection Protocols” (MPP). It requires asylum seekers to wait outside the U.S. while their claims are processed. After the Biden administration sought to end it, Texas and Missouri sued. A federal judge ruled that ending the MPP was unlawful, The Center Square reported.

Trump will also direct federal agencies to finish building the border wall along the southwest border, completing a project he began in his first term. Biden halted border wall construction on his first day in office. Texas and Missouri again sued and won that lawsuit as well, The Center Square reported.policy

Another executive order will end parole programs for illegal border crossers created by former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who was impeached in part for creating them. Multiple attorneys general sued to stop them, arguing they were illegal.

The parole programs, including using a phone app, facilitated illegal entry into the U.S. for millions, including those with criminal records. Many released through the parole programs were later found to commit violent crimes against Americans, The Center Square reported.

Another will direct federal efforts to “crack down on criminal sanctuaries,” referring to so-called sanctuary jurisdictions. More than 200 were identified and already given notice to comply with federal law or face prosecution. Sanctuary cities expected to be targeted first include Boston, Chicago, Miami and New York.

Trump’s massive deportation efforts will be led by his Border Czar Tom Homan, who has said the priority is to find and locate the most violent criminals to process for removal.

Another executive order will suspend the federal so-called refugee resettlement program through which local communities nationwide “were forced to house large and unsustainable populations of migrants, straining community safety and resources,” Trump’s transition team said.

Trump will also direct members of the U.S. military, including the National Guard, to engage in border security operations, deploying them to the border to assist existing law enforcement personnel. According to a poll ahead of the election last year, the majority of Americans support U.S. troops being sent to the border, The Center Squarereported.

Another order will direct the Department of Justice to seek the death penalty for illegal border crossers who kill U.S. citizens, including law enforcement officers.

Last year, criminal illegal border crossers made international headlines after brutally assaulting and murdering American women and girls, The Center Square reported. Their mothers and family members endorsed Trump for president.

Another order will direct the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies to enhance vetting and screening processes after national security concerns were raised about the Biden administration flying illegal border crossers into the country who weren’t vetted, The Center Square reported.

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Daily Caller

Sweeping Deportations to Begin in Chicago Day After Inauguration

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From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Jason Hopkins

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to launch his promised large-scale deportation operation the day after he is sworn into office, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.

The incoming Trump administration will immediately begin mass deportation efforts in major sanctuary cities across the United States, with Chicago predicted to be first on the docket, according to The Wall Street Journal. The raid in Chicago is anticipated to begin Tuesday morning and last the entire week, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to deploy 100 to 200 agents to execute the operation.

Incoming border czar Tom Homan — who led ICE during the first Trump administration — previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the White House will focus on the “worst first,” prioritizing illegal migrants who have criminal histories and orders of removal. However, Homan also made clear that any illegal migrant in the U.S is fair game.

“Like the first Trump administration, we’re going to prioritize public safety threats, national security threats and fugitives,” Homan stated to the DCNF, adding that gang members and other criminals would be their main focus. “Those that had due process at great taxpayer expense, were given orders of deportation, never left and became a fugitive – them too, they’re a priority.”

“The ones who pose the biggest threat to the country – they come first. The worst first,” Homan went on. “But let’s be clear, if you’re in the country illegally, you’re not off the table.”

The Chicago City Council recently slapped down an attempt by two moderate aldermen to scale back the sanctuary city laws currently in place.

Aldermen Raymond Lopez and Silvana Tabares, both Democrats, proposed amending Chicago’s Welcoming City ordinance to allow for ICE cooperation when an illegal migrant has been arrested of certain criminal activities, arguing that such a policy would be a net benefit for the city’s immigrant community as it would allow deportation officers to better focus on criminals instead of making enforcement actions in the city at large. However, their proposal was quickly shot down by the council on Wednesday.

Other sanctuary cities in the U.S. have also expressed steep opposition to Trump’s enforcement agenda. Los Angeles passed its sanctuary law shortly after Trump emerged victorious in the presidential election, San Diego County doubled down on its existing law and Boston reaffirmed its sanctuary status in December.

Homan has said that city officials refusing to cooperate with ICE will not deter their agenda, and he added that those who knowingly harbor illegal migrants from law enforcement will be recommended for prosecution.

Along with large-scale deportation operations, Trump has also vowed to end birthright citizenship for those born on U.S. soil by illegal migrant parents, resume construction on the U.S.-Mexico border wall, bring back the Remain in Mexico program and implement other hawkish policies.

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