Mexican immigration officials are allegedly trying all they can to illegally make as much money as possible from migrants before the government puts their teams in leadership positions. The action comes as a new Mexican government is expected to take office next month.
Breitbart Texas spoke with director-level officials at Mexico's National Migration Institute, who detailed the practice, which is common whenever there's a change in leadership.
INM sources revealed that those in leadership positions are selling documents, charging favours and blackmailing migrants and travellers in order to make as much cash as possible before forcing them out.
One INM source revealed that the current INM regional representative for the Yucatan Peninsula, Carmen Yadira de los Santos Robredo, had pressured staff to ask for bribes and illegally sell travel documents.
(Left) Mexican immigration representative Carmen Yadira de los Santos Robredo. Credit: Breitbart Texas/Cartel Chronicles
De los Santos has been the subject of internal investigations before. Sources say he has not been punished for anything and was only transferred to protect himself and his staff because of his close relationship with current INM Commissioner Francisco Garduno. His most recent transfer was in 2022, when he was assigned to Yucatan to help with an internal investigation and cover-up of migrant protests in Chiapas.
After her stint in Chiapas, de los Santos was assigned to Yucatan, where she was accused of having her staff extort migrants and targeting Cuban migrants. In some cases, her staff detained and extorted Cuban travelers who had legitimate papers but were told they were not valid and were threatened with detention or deportation.
Some of the internal documents obtained by Breitbart Texas show that a fellow INM agent had alleged that de los Santos pressured him to collect the illegal fees in cash, which he then sent to higher-ups.
The IA documents revealed that in one of the cases, de los Santos showed charging between $1,500 and $2,000 for humanitarian visa cards. These cards were printed and sold to migrants but were not recorded or entered into the INM system.
According to another document, during her deployment in the Chiapas region, she set up several private offices outside the Siglo XXI base where she and close friends received private immigration services. The tactic was to deny permits or papers to migrants or travelers or find some kind of obstacle. They would then go to the outside offices where De Los Santos and her associates would sell them a solution to their problem.
The Chiapas troubles have sparked protests by migrants and whistle-blowing by agents who say they will become victims of various abuses if they refuse to back down from corrupt practices.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist at Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas' Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. Twitter and FacebookContact details: email address.
Brandon Darby is Managing Director and Editor in Chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas' Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart executives. Twitter and FacebookContact details: email address.
Williams Cortez of Breitbart Texas' Cartel Chronicles Project contributed to this report.
