EXCLUSIVEDesperate cartels turn to 'demonic' desert ritual to try and cross the border during Trump's migrant crackdown READ MORE: Cartels triple prices to smuggle migrants into US By MARYANN MARTINEZ, TEXAS BUREAU CHIEF IN EL PASO FOR DAILYMAIL.COM Published: 20:26 BST, 29 April 2025 | Updated: 20:26 BST, 29 April 2025 Just a few feet from the border wall, smugglers have built a shrine to the cartel patron saint. With crossing the border tougher than ever before during President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, they hope a last act of God might help them sneak into the United States. An alter to Santa Muerte that's been a favorite of cartels for years has been set up just outside El Paso, Texas in Mexico. Worship of the cloaked skeleton figure has been condemned by the Catholic Church, and her images are often found on suspected traffickers when they're ferrying drugs and people into the US. While it's not new for Mexican cartels to turn to the saint of 'holy death', shrines to her are now popping up in greater numbers in an area of Mexico known for being a cartel hot bed. Rancho Anapra, as the neighborhood in Ciudad Juarez is known, is now filled with tributes to Santa Muerte, including one placed strategically within view of US Border Patrol agents holding the line on the international boundary. 'This is the face of evil that we're facing as a law enforcement agency,' Border Patrol spokesman Claudio Herrera-Baeza told DailyMail.com while touring the well-known smuggling corridor. In this part of the border, three cartels run the show: La Linea, La Impresa and the Sinaloa Cartel, Border Patrol added. 'It's the Border Patrol against cartel operations. We know that cartels often use these types of images believing that they will receive some type of protection. In reality, it's demonic. It's pure evil. In recent weeks, a shrine to cartel saint Santa Muerte has popped up within feet of the US border wall near El Paso, Texas, DailyMail.com can reveal The alter to the narco saint is located in a well-known smuggler area directly on the international border in Juarez, Mexico Believers in Santa Muerte leave offerings including fruit, bread, bottles of tequila, money, candles and other tokens. In exchange, smugglers hope the narco icon will bring them safe passage, wealth and also serve as a way of intimidating others. The female embodiment of death is often depicted standing on a bed of skulls, wearing a hooded and holding a globe in one hand and a sickle in the other. One statue seized by the DEA from two women accused of transporting meth from the border to Minnesota in 2011. Wearing a robe made of fake US $100 bills, gold glitter and imitation jewels, the statue doubled as a contraband hiding spot with its hallow interior. The shrine at the border wall appeared in recent weeks, after Pres. Donald Trump took office in January and began an unprecedented tightening of security. A candle was burning the morning DailyMail.com visited and a baseball hat hung on the lock used to secure the shrine in a glass case. 'Rancho Anapra has been known for multiple years as one of the focal points for smuggling,' the Border Patrol spokesman explained. 'If you go to the other side of the border, you will see multiple shrines, not only to Santa Muerte but also to (Jesus) Malverde. It's is a well known saint or patron to the cartels.' Believers in Santa Muerte leave offerings including fruit, bread, bottles of tequila, money, candles and other tokens In exchange, smugglers hope the narco icon will bring them safe passage, wealth and also serve as a way of intimidating others A candle was burning the morning DailyMail.com visited last week and a baseball hat hung on the lock used to secure the shrine in a glass case. The female embodiment of death is often depicted standing on a bed of skulls, wearing a hooded and holding a globe in one hand and a sickle in the other Not only are tributes to Santa Muerte growing, but traffickers are also seeking help from Jesus Malverde, another narco saint. Known as the Robin Hood in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, Malverde is a folk hero cartels venerate for protection and to increase profits. The number of illegal crossings into the US have plummet since the Republican president took over compared to the Joe Biden years. In El Paso, the law enforcement agency went from seeing 2,700 migrant encounters a day under Biden to between 50 and 60 a day now. 'We pretty sure that we are hurting their finances,' Herrera-Baeza stated. 'When you start affecting their work, you start affecting a whole network that they have created. We know that violence might rise.' The agency is readying itself in case agents are attacked. Cartels won't hestiate to turn to violence if profits drop. Cartels believe Santa Muerte is going to protect them from 'any evil', even though the folk patron saint of death has been condemned by the Catholic Church In this part of the border, three cartels run the show: La Linea, La Impresa and the Sinaloa Cartel, Border Patrol added Border Patrol Spokesperson for the El Paso Sector, Claudio Herrera, says the worshipping of the shrine is 'demonic' and 'disturbing' Herrera, says it has gotten increasingly harder to illegally get people and products across the border The government best estimate is that the trafficking of migrants into the US is a $13 billion a year business. 'We know that a lot of people believe in this type of way to make profit,' he added. 'We have seen multiple of these properties used as stash house. They will place migrants in brutal conditions before they are able to cross.' Migrants are often staged in the humble homes and shacks of Rancho Anapra. Often starved of food and water, the desperate Central and South Americans hoping for the American dream are kept there until the smugglers deem they can successfully sneak them over the border. In the worst case scenarios, the devotees of Sante Muerte beat, rape and torture the migrants while they have them in their clutches, all while bending a knee to the skeleton woman. Share or comment on this article: Desperate cartels turn to 'demonic' desert ritual to try and cross the border during Trump's migrant crackdown Add comment