(NewsNation) — Drug cartels are controlling operations at the southern border as they force migrants across the Rio Grande at gunpoint and hold asylum seekers in stash houses, Border Patrol reports.

The cartel sees what is happening on the US side and takes advantage of the lack of resources, pushing people and drugs through the holes while border patrol is busy processing, according to Vice President of National Border Patrol Council, Art Del Cueto.

These criminal organizations are forcing people across the border regardless of whether migrants want to stay and wait in Mexico because they could be expelled under Title 42 based on their country of origin.

Sources show migrants who are being forced across the border are being kept in stash houses on the Mexican side by the cartels in power. Border Patrol told NewsNation’s Ali Bradley, “They’ll keep these individuals in some of the stash houses with the door’s locked so they can’t escape,” ultimately deciding when and where they will be allowed to cross into the U.S.

These reports come as the Del Rio sector is also reporting the presence of machete-armed men who are robbing migrants on the U.S. side after crossing.

You can see Ali Bradley’s full report in the player above.