Operation Coyote was a

United States Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...

90-day effort to track and seize revenue generated by Mexican cartels in the

human smuggling People smuggling (also called human smuggling), under U.S. law, is "the facilitation, transportation, attempted transportation or illegal entry of a person or persons across an international border, in violation of one or more countries' laws, ei ...

trade along the

Mexico–United States border The Mexico–United States border ( es, frontera Estados Unidos–México) is an international border separating Mexico and the United States, extending from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Gulf of Mexico in the east. The border trave ...

History

Operation Coyote followed the May 2014 Operation Southern Crossing that led to the arrest of 163 smugglers in a single month. Operation Coyote launched in June 2014. By July, 191 smugglers and 450 undocumented aliens were arrested (or 192 smugglers and 501 undocumented aliens), and $600K (or more than $625K) were seized from US banks. 60 special agents were assigned to the case The Secretary of Homeland Security,

Jeh Johnson Jeh Charles Johnson ( "Jay"; born September 11, 1957) is an American lawyer and former government official. He was United States Secretary of Homeland Security from 2013 to 2017. From 2009 to 2012, Johnson was the general counsel of the Departm ...

, commented on the operation in August 2014, announcing that 363 smugglers and their associates had been arrested and more than $800,000 in illicit payments seized. In September 2014, the authorities raided 6 homes in

Nacogdoches Nacogdoches ( ) is a small city in East Texas and the county seat of Nacogdoches County, Texas, United States. The 2020 U.S. census recorded the city's population at 32,147. Nacogdoches is a sister city of the smaller, similarly named Natchitoch ...

where 4 persons were arrested, and guns were found along thousands of dollars in cash. From June to September 2014, U.S. agents seized $950,000 (~$ in ) in 504 accounts at undisclosed banks in

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

and

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. Homeland Security also reported that in this time period, human smuggling generated $50 million, mainly in the

Reynosa Reynosa () is a border city in the northern part of the state of Tamaulipas, in Mexico. It is also the municipal seat of Reynosa Municipality. The city is located on the southern bank of the Rio Grande in the international Reynosa–McAllen Me ...

area of

Tamaulipas Tamaulipas (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tamaulipas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tamaulipas), is a state in the northeast region of Mexico; one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal Entiti ...

. Its impact was also considered minor compared to the actual size of the human trafficking industry between Latin America and the US. The operation was criticized for not taking into account the crisis of child migrants crossing the border. When starting the operations, Homeland Security assumed that Mexican cartels were the main actors of the cross-border human smuggling, with special agent Oscar Hagelsieb stating to the press "We've been able to trace millions of dollars going into the Reynosa area. You cannot operate a criminal venture of that magnitude without the cartels having a major role in it". No further links to the cartels were uncovered by the US feds. A 2016 Fox News article implied that Operation Coyote was still ongoing, totaling $2 million (~$ in ) seized and 1,100 arrests.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coyote, Operation 2014 in the United States 2014 in Mexico Conflicts in 2014 Operations against organized crime in the United States Operations against organized crime in Mexico Human trafficking in the United States

History

See also

References