Migrants looking to enter the US from Mexico illegally often pay thousands of dollars to “coyotes,” or smugglers who transport them across the border. Once inside the US, they’re hidden in trailers or the trunks of cars to get past highway checkpoints where law enforcement is on the lookout. 

That’s where a largely hidden workforce comes in — people in the US, many of them citizens, who are recruited by smuggling operations to drive the vehicles through the checkpoints, hoping to avoid detection. Often these drivers are themselves barely getting by, and they risk time in federal prison if they’re caught.

Reporter Julia Love, who wrote about this shadow economy for Bloomberg Businessweek, joins this episode to tell the story of one of those drivers–a Texan named Dennis Wilson. Wilson also comes on the podcast to describe his experience–and to tell what happened when he was pulled over early one morning.

Read Julia Love’s story: https://bloom.bg/3kNxlRI

Listen to The Big Take podcast every weekday and subscribe to our daily newsletter: https://bloom.bg/3F3EJAK

Have questions or comments for Wes and the team? Reach us at bigtake@bloomberg.net.

Migrants looking to enter the US from Mexico illegally often pay thousands of dollars to “coyotes,” or smugglers who transport them across the border. Once inside the US, they’re hidden in trailers or the trunks of cars to get past highway checkpoints where law enforcement is on the lookout. 
That’s where a largely hidden workforce comes in — people in the US, many of them citizens, who are recruited by smuggling operations to drive the vehicles through the checkpoints, hoping to avoid detection. Often these drivers are themselves barely getting by, and they risk time in federal prison if they’re caught.
Reporter <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/authors/AV1xH-GphXo/julia-love">Julia Love</a>, who wrote about this shadow economy for Bloomberg Businessweek, joins this episode to tell the story of one of those drivers–a Texan named Dennis Wilson. Wilson also comes on the podcast to describe his experience–and to tell what happened when he was pulled over early one morning.
Read Julia Love’s story: <a href="https://bloom.bg/3kNxlRI">https://bloom.bg/3kNxlRI</a> 
Listen to The Big Take podcast every weekday and subscribe to our daily newsletter: <a href="https://bloom.bg/3F3EJAK">https://bloom.bg/3F3EJAK</a> 
Have questions or comments for Wes and the team? Reach us at <a href="mailto:bigtake@bloomberg.net">bigtake@bloomberg.net</a>.

The Big Take from Bloomberg News brings you inside what’s shaping the world's economies with the smartest and most informed business reporters around the world. The context you need on the stories that can move markets. Every afternoon.

The Big Take from Bloomberg News brings you inside what’s shaping the world's economies with the smartest and most informed business reporters around the world. The context you need on the stories that can move markets. Every afternoon.

Big Take

The US Citizens Recruited to Smuggle Migrants

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/43b64b94-15c9-4a5b-a73a-af960184d5c9/transcript

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