Migrants Struggle To Pay Traffickers As Coronavirus Makes Work Scarce
Download mp3 (9.24 MB)Many Central American migrants pay traffickers, or coyotes, to smuggle them through Mexico and across the border.
The fees can run into the tens of thousands per person with outrageous interest and are often borrowed, using as collateral the only thing of value: their homes.
Once in the United States as undocumented residents, many migrants work and send money back to families in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to pay off the coyote debts.
Now, with the nation in lockdown, many are finding it difficult to work, leaving a constant threat that their homes will be seized by the smuggling cartels that brought them to the United States. Sometimes the properties are taken by force.
Freelance reporters Megan Janetsky and Victoria Stunt dug deeper and filed their findings with Vice News. The Show spoke with Janetsky about how Trump administration policies have affected migrants and their circumstances.
