May 14, 2014
TIJUANA, MEXICO—During a raid at a factory late afternoon
Tuesday, May 13, 2014, officers of the Drug Enforcement Agency operating in
Tijuana, Mexico revealed an operation far larger than intelligence reports had originally
led them to believe. Officials were tipped off that the factory, one of the
largest in a city known in the United States for its easy-to-reach tourism
industry, was housing a major cartel operation for the eponymous Tijuana Cartel.
Agents burst into the plant intending to break up a suspected drug trafficking
operation, and successfully did so but were failed to detain any assailants. While
large quantities of narcotics were confiscated, official report that a large
human trafficking operation was also discovered.
Many of the laborers appeared to be people forcibly brought
from throughout Latin America, and according to officials, were forced to work
in sweatshop-like conditions with little to no pay. Materials involved in the
production of narcotics, along with hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of finished
drugs were discovered in a concealed storage facility. Many of the laborers
questioned reportedly told law enforcement that the vast majority of them were
promised passage into the United States, but instead were coerced into forced labor
benefiting the cartel. It is suspected that many of the women and children working
were also being trafficked as sex workers, with an unknown number of victims
having already passed through the facility. Claims of many more victims having
already been trafficked across the American border were met with consensus
among the workers. Though the laborers claim that most of the people
transported were likely forced laborers or sex workers, the possibility that
terrorists, gang and cartel members, or other dangerous individuals crossing as
well remains likely.
The factory for years had been a site where various
goods were manufactured for large big-box corporate stores in the United States.
With major corporations taking advantage of the cheap labor and lax regulatory
oversight in Mexico, factories such as this one enabled companies to avoid the
costly taxes and operating permits typically required in the United States,
shipping jobs to foreign countries like Mexico for cheaper suppliers. Sources
tell FOX News that law enforcement from both Mexico and the United States did
know that the facility was owned by the Tijuana Cartel and until today’s raid had
done nothing about this fact. The manufacturing facility had also served as
front for a cartel that sought to rebuild itself under the guise of a
legitimate enterprise. When asked about the raid today, Senate Minority Leader
Mitch McConnell (R-KY) stated that; “such a gross intelligence error on the
part of the DEA, is reminiscent of the intelligence failure that allowed the
2012 attack in Benghazi to leave four Americans and one Ambassador dead,” and
continued, stating that “…this example continues to demonstrate the level of
utter incompetence by the current incapable administration of the White House.” When contacted, a White House spokesman told
FOX News that they were unable to comment on the matter until further
investigation was conducted.
FOX News will continue to stay committed to the story,
and will be bringing more reports of the threats this nation faces stemming
from an inadequately protected border.
