Human Smugglers Now Exploiting Rideshares Near Texas Border

Since President Trump resumed office in January of 2025, the situation with the borders, especially the southern border, has improved greatly. What was a flood of illegal immigration has become a trickle. But there are still people slipping across, many trafficked by the notorious gangs and cartels who have a hammer-lock on the flow of people trying to enter the United States illegally.

Now, the United States Border Patrol warns, the gangs and cartels are using legitimate ride-share apps like Uber and Lyft to move people once they have breached the border. Needless to say, this could be very dangerous for the rideshare drivers.

In the U.S. Custom and Border Protection Sector of El Paso, which includes two west Texas counties and all of New Mexico, Border Patrol agents are warning rideshare drivers about the severe legal and physical dangers they face if they fall victim to or participate in transnational criminal smuggling operations.
El Paso is a major human smuggling corridor located directly across the Rio Grande River from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, one of the most violent places in the world. The Juárez Cartel and street gangs associated with it, La Línea and Bario Azteca, have been warring with the Sinaloa Cartel for control of a multi-billion-dollar human trafficking and drug trade there. The city is also known for the targeted murder of women. Over the past 30 years, more than 2,300 women have been murdered there, according to multiple reports.
Border Patrol is now warning that human smugglers are increasingly using legitimate mobile apps “to insulate themselves from law enforcement” by arranging rideshare pickups in the region. This includes in secluded desert locations, on remote highway shoulders near the border wall or in commercial staging lots, the agency says.

The Border Patrol has issued a press release on the matter:

“Cartel criminal smugglers recklessly endanger the lives of rideshare drivers and passengers alike, treating legitimate drivers as disposable tools for their smuggling operations,” said El Paso Sector Chief Patrol Agent Jesse D. Munoz. “When these trips are intercepted, drivers face immediate detention and asset forfeiture while federal agents investigate their level of involvement in the smuggling network.”
The U.S. Border Patrol advises drivers who encounter suspicious pickup requests to prioritize their safety by immediately canceling the ride and relocating to a secure area. Drivers are encouraged to use in-app security functions to document their routes, and report concerns to the platform.

It's something of an arms race on the southern border. The United States closes the border, and the cartels start looking for ways to evade our border enforcement. These people are evil, but they aren't stupid. Well, not all of them are, at any rate.

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It may be belaboring the obvious to point out that any Uber or Lyft with a modicum of good sense would pass on picking up a small group of people, as noted above, from a secluded desert location, on a remote highway shoulder, or in a commercial parking area. That should set alarm bells ringing in anyone, especially since it's a safe bet most of the calls for such transport mainly come in at night. The cartels and gangs, though, are still profiting from the deal.

The issue here is that the gangs and cartels have us reacting to them, and not the other way around. Until that changes, until the United States not only maintains control of the border but is proactive in engaging the cartels and gangs that are constantly probing for new ways in, this trickle of illegal aliens will continue.

Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump, illegal immigration into our great country has virtually stopped. Despite the radical left's lies, new legislation wasn't needed to secure our border, just a new president.

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