(NewsNation Now) — In an exclusive look at the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border, NewsNation’s Leland Vittert visits one of the most deserted parts of the Rio Grande, where Border Patrol agents are fighting human trafficking.
The cartels are giving out wristbands to the people they are smuggling across the border. Each color represents a different cartel and a different service the people being smuggled have purchased.
One migrant told NewsNation he paid a smuggler $7,000 to bring him from El Salvador. Others Vittert encountered paid as much as $25,000 to get to the United States.
Migrants who don’t surrender to Border Patrol agents will likely get sent back if caught.
Ever since the crisis began back in January, Border Patrol agents have been pulled from the field, keeping them from doing the job of deterring criminal activity.
Watch Leland Vittert’s full, exclusive report in the player above.