Claim: Wristbands on migrants indicate amount of money owed to smugglers.

Question

According to Ted Cruz, smugglers make migrants wear wristbands to show how much they owe the smugglers.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2023/03/29/cruz_grills_mayorkas_you_dont_even_know_what_wristbands_on_illegals_means_each_color_corresponds_to_how_much_they_owe.html

https://fb.watch/jFkuxuSLwK/

Answer 1

False. Although it is true that migrants wear wristbands, it is not true that the purpose of these wristbands is to show how much they owe. 

According to Reuters, "Criminal groups operating in northern Mexico, however, have long used systems to log which migrants have already paid for the right to be in gang-controlled territory, as well as for the right to cross the border into the United States, migration experts said."

Reuters also interviewed a migrant who says that "he paid $500 to one of the criminal groups in the city after he arrived a few months ago from Honduras to secure the purple bracelet to protect against kidnapping or extortion. He said once migrants or their smugglers have paid for the right to cross the river, which is also controlled by criminal groups, they receive another bracelet."

This shows that the migrants have these bracelets as a way to show that they paid their dues to cross, that they can be safe. 

Read more here: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-border/color-coded-passage-why-smugglers-are-tagging-u-s-bound-migrants-with-wristbands-idUSKBN2B12E6

According to spectrum local news,U.S. Border Patrol agents were the first ones to notice wristbands on the migrants they detained in order to process. Now they know what they are used for.

“What this indicates is that these migrants have paid a certain organization a fee,” said Lt. Christopher Alvarez, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public safety." Spectrum also agrees that this is a way to show that they paid their fees to get smuggled.  https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/south-texas-el-paso/news/2021/05/14/texas-dps-says-human-smugglers-using-color-coded-wristband-system-at-the-u-s--mexico-border-

Answer 2

This is false. The migrants do wear wrist bands, but they are color coded to show which smuggler group helped them transport and if they paid or not. It is not to show how much they owe. I got this information from an article from the Center for Immigration Studies.

Sources: https://cis.org/Bensman/Overwhelmed-Mexican-AlienSmuggling-Cartels-Use-Wristband-System-Bring-Order-Business

The Center for Immigration Studies is a research organization that provides "immigration policymakers, the academic community, news media, and concerned citizens with reliable information about the social, economic, environmental, security, and fiscal consequences of legal and illegal immigration into the United States."

Comments

I like that you provided a bio for the Center for Immigration Studies. It's very helpful for those who are unfamiliar with the center.

Answer 3

The wristbands worn by migrants are an indication of payment towards the Cartel when traveling through gang territory. They are not a marker for those who owe money towards smugglers, like Cruz states.

In a Reuters article written two years ago, Adrees Latif interviewed someone who had crossed the US-Mexico border. The interviewee said that "once migrants or their smugglers have paid for the right to cross the river, which is also controlled by criminal groups, they receive another bracelet... they are putting these (bracelets) on so there aren’t killings by mistake".

Therefore, the bracelets actually serve as protection against the Mexican Drug Cartels.

The article also states that due to the recent high number of immigrants, the wristbands may be used to better organize the human smuggling operation. They are a relatively recent phenomenon, yet they do not seem to be directly tied to issues of sex trafficking or slavery like Senator Cruz states.

Article: (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-border/color-coded-passage-why-smugglers-are-tagging-u-s-bound-migrants-with-wristbands-idUSKBN2B12E6)