Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of National Security of the United States, announced a new plan against criminal organizations that operate the smuggling of migrants in a transactional manner.
“We intend to disrupt all facets of the logistics network that these organizations use to succeed,” said the official through a statement that details the new US strategy baptized with the name of Operation Sentinel.
Mayorkas indicated that the main objective is to cut access to the profits that these organizations obtain when they mobilize illegal immigrants to the North American country.
The plan also includes detecting the people who make up these organizations to prevent them from traveling, trading and financial actions in the US.
“This operation is designed to disrupt all facets of the logistics network of these criminal organizations. Our goal is to improve the security of the US border and help save the lives of those who are victims of these unscrupulous criminals, ”said the Cuban-American.
According to the statement, agents participating in Operation Sentinel will focus their efforts on identifying the personnel and resources used by human traffickers.
“Operation Sentinel will map organizations’ networks; it will target its members, associates and assets; and it will employ a series of specific actions and sanctions against them ”, indicates the note.
The main results of this operation will be the revocation of travel documents, suspension and disqualification of commercial entities, as well as the freezing of bank accounts and other financial assets.
Personnel from the Customs and Border Protection Office, National Security Investigations of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service and the Citizenship and Immigration Services participate in the strategy.
It will also have elements of the Department of State and the Federal Office of Investigation and Drug Control Administration of the Department of Justice.
The statement mentions that these organizations expose migrants to situations of death and violence, as well as being accomplices of sexual assaults, human trafficking and the abandonment of children in border areas.
“Smuggling operations continue to lie and exploit vulnerable populations to promote their criminal enterprise; health and the safety of migrants does not influence their lucrative ambition”Says the note.
The US government has in its records that in fiscal year 2020, the Border Patrol found the bodies of at least 250 migrants in different areas of the border between Mexico and the United States.