More than two months of travel across eight countries. Regular run-ins with corrupt police and migration officials, organized crime groups, guerrillas, and smugglers. This is the journey thousands of migrants from Venezuela take to reach the US-Mexico border.

*This article is the first in a three-part investigation, “Unintended Consequences: How US Immigration Policy Foments Organized Crime on the US-Mexico Border,” analyzing how prevention through deterrence policies have bolstered Mexican criminal organizations. Download the full investigation here.

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*For security reasons, InSight Crime has changed the protagonist’s name.

Steven Dudley is the co-founder and co-director of InSight Crime and a senior research fellow at American University’s Center for Latin American and Latino Studies in Washington, DC. In 2020, Dudley...