Popular Mexican border cities for large numbers of migrants to gather before illegally crossing into the United States include places like Tijuana, Ciudad Juárez, Piedras Negras, and Reynosa.
But one border city that has not been the scene of thousands of migrants in the streets or shelters has been Nuevo Laredo, which sits across from Laredo, Texas. There is a reason for that. Nuevo Laredo and Laredo are home to the busiest ports of entry for truck shipments. Commercial trucks mean more opportunities for drugs to be smuggled into the country, which is why Nuevo Laredo is constantly fought over by the different cartels.
The warring cartels do not want mass amounts of people illegally crossing in the area (though it does happen small scale) because large groups crossing into the United States means a greater law enforcement response, which could disrupt their drug smuggling.
That is why it was startling to see more than 1,000 Venezuelans arrive in Nuevo Laredo this week, stating their intent to cross into the United States. They refused to go to shelters, opting to stay in the streets. The city eventually set up a temporary shelter in a park near one of the international bridges.
BREAKING: Up to 1300 Venezuelan migrants are at the plaza near Bridge 1 in Nuevo Laredo. They arrived last night and refused to sleep at the shelters there, sleeping outside in the streets instead. pic.twitter.com/fqphldm3AP
— Juan Mendoza Díaz (@JuanMoreNews) June 25, 2023
The city of #NuevoLaredo under orders of mayor @Carmenliliacrv built temporary camps for the big group of mostly Venezuelan migrants that arrived to the city a couple of days ago. https://t.co/5CYerKbTpu
— Juan Mendoza Díaz (@JuanMoreNews) June 26, 2023
Migrants who arrived in #NuevoLaredo hope that they will be able to cross into the U.S. through this port of entry, even though they are aware of the cancellation of appointments in #Laredo by CBP One. https://t.co/6LHTDcygND
— Juan Mendoza Díaz (@JuanMoreNews) June 25, 2023
Even if they are trying to cross legally by setting up an appointment through the CBP One app, there is no guarantee they will be let in. The only other options would be having to leave the city or trying to cross illegally. This latest development shows that even though Title 8 is now being enforced instead of Title 42, mass numbers of people are still traveling to the U.S.-Mexico border. It is possible the Northeast Cartel, which mainly controls Nuevo Laredo, wants to make a quick buck off of the Venezuelans, but it could be dangerous if their presence interferes with its drug operations.
