Retired US marshal: Migrants try to come for the American dream, but cartels make it a 'living nightmare'
He describes how cartels can make more from human trafficking than drug smuggling
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Retired U.S. Marshal Robert Almonte described the horrors migrants face on their way to the U.S. southern border on Tuesday's "Jesse Watters Primetime," and the "rape tree" cartels make to display their victims.
ROBERT ALMONTE: I have pictures, I sent you one of the rape tree, and you have these coyotes that are raping young girls, teenage girls, elderly women. And these are brutal rapes. They beat them up and then they remove their undergarments and they place them on a tree like a trophy tree. And it's kind of a challenge to the other coyotes to see if they can match that, so this is brutal. We just concluded our conference for the National Narcotic Officers Association Coalition here in Washington, D.C., and this was the main topic. We discussed the cartels involvement in human smuggling and also in drug trafficking.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}But I have to tell you, the cartels have been involved in human smuggling for awhile. Now they're even more involved. Why? Because of the surge of migrants we have coming across the border. And actually, the cartels are making so much money off of human smuggling than they are off of human trafficking. And it's more cost-effective for them to be involved in human smuggling. Why? Well, when it comes to drug trafficking, the cartels don't get their money until the drugs have been delivered over here. When it comes to human smuggling, these migrants pay the cartels upfront several thousand dollars. So the cartels don't worry about it. The migrants get apprehended at the border or they die, sadly, like what happened in San Antonio just a few weeks ago. Cartels don't lose any sleep over it. That's why this is not going to end until we secure the border and stop these people from coming over here. It's not a matter of people coming over here. They think they're coming over here to live the American dream, and quite frankly, for many, many of them, it turned out to be a nightmare — a living nightmare.
WATCH THE FULL SEGMENT BELOW: