residents bracing for the arrival of drug traffickers, particularly members of the paramilitary group known as the Zetas (immigrants, Mexican)

[Lakewooder]

Fears of drug traffickers grow as more migrants pass through quiet Mexican town | Denton Record Chronicle | News for Denton County, Texas | Latest News (http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/110209dnintwesttexas.452233a.html - broken link)

"...The increase in human smuggling has residents bracing for the arrival of drug traffickers, particularly members of the paramilitary group known as the Zetas.

Once the enforcers of the Gulf cartel, the Zetas have expanded into a variety of other criminal activities, including taking over lucrative human-smuggling routes. Already, the Zetas control much of the Texas-Mexico border region, authorities say.

The state of Chihuahua is the only region of northeastern Mexico where the Zetas' presence is minimal, authorities say. But the longtime kingpin of Chihuahua, the Juárez cartel, is engaged in an intense turf war with the Sinaloa cartel over control of distribution routes, and their future is in doubt. This, U.S. law-enforcement officials say, provides an opening for the Zetas.

To those who control the smuggling routes, immigrants are often forced to pay exorbitant amounts of cash – or less, if they agree to smuggle drugs into the U.S.

"Coyotes," or smugglers, charge about $1,500 to sneak clients from Ojinaga to Dallas..."

[1AngryTaxPayer]

1500? I thought these people were poor? I don't have a spare 1500 laying around.

[Lakewooder]

That must be the price to be packed in the back of a tractor-trailer rig in August. I've heard $5,000.