People

Mexico plays a crucial role in human trafficking between Central and North America, acting as a transit hub primarily for north-bound Central American victims who may face various forms of exploitation, including forced sex work and labour. Sex trafficking is widespread near the US-Mexico and Guatemala-Mexico borders, while forced agricultural labour is more common in Guerrero and Oaxaca where indigenous communities and people of African descent are exploited. Vulnerable irregular foreign nationals and middle-class Mexicans are at risk of being trafficked, with the socio-economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbating these risks. An increase in criminal territorial control across Mexico, combined with increasingly rampant corruption, impunity, and institutional weakness in Mexican law enforcement agencies, have facilitated the expansion of Mexico’s human trafficking market in recent years.

Mexico’s human smuggling market remains active, driven by poverty, insecurity, and criminality across Central America, especially in the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened these factors, causing a further increase in north-bound irregular migration towards the US through Mexico. Although smugglers in north-eastern Mexico are linked to transnational organized crime groups, drug cartels, and corrupt officials, those in southern Mexico are often locals living along key smuggling routes. Women and children are also involved in facilitating irregular migration. The impact of Mexico’s human smuggling market is localized, with notable demand in overcrowded Mexican border towns and southern cities such as Villahermosa, Palenque, Tenosique, Comítan, and Tapachula.

Mexican criminal groups rely heavily on extortion as a source of revenue, targeting individuals as well as small, medium, and large businesses. The rate of extortion has substantially increased in some Mexican states while declining in others. Extortion can also involve private citizens who falsely claim membership in criminal groups to obtain small extortion payments. Territorial extortion, known as cobro de piso, has become a low-cost revenue source for criminal groups. The food industry has been increasingly targeted, leading to food crises and supply chain disruptions. Extortion remains a significant concern in nearly all Mexican cities, with municipalities in the states of Michoacan, Guanajuato, Zacatecas, Morelos, Nuevo Laredo, and México experiencing the highest rates.

Trade

Mexico’s arms trafficking market is highly consolidated, driven by ineffective arms legislation and the inflow of weapons from the US. Although the vast majority of seized illicit arms can be traced back to US manufacturers, there is a notable flow of grenades and RPG-7s from Central America. Legal purchases of firearms in the US by criminal and civil entities contribute to the accessibility of weapons and high levels of violence and criminality in Mexico. Although Mexican authorities are working to combat the issue, there is a lack of comprehensive policy and coordination between state and federal law enforcement agencies and with US authorities, which may allow the arms trafficking market to continue to expand domestically and regionally. This issue has been a point of contention in US-Mexico bilateral relations, with Mexican authorities launching civil lawsuits against US arms manufacturers. Although there has been an increase in weapons seizures along the US-Mexico border, this has not significantly reduced the vast supply of illicit weapons to domestic criminal groups in Mexico.

Counterfeiting and piracy have become some of the most profitable crimes in Mexico, with the country being one of the largest producer and consumer of counterfeit and pirated products in both Latin America and the world. The sale of inexpensive counterfeit goods is widespread across the country. It is estimated that more than 10% of all US-sourced counterfeit and pirated products sold worldwide are destined for Mexican markets. Despite severe damage to the Mexican economy caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the distribution of counterfeit pharmaceutical products was not affected and was even exacerbated by increased demand. However, despite some efforts being made, the convergence of criminal groups and customs authorities at various points of entry continues to complicate the fight against this crime. Additionally, the changing of labels in the illicit textile goods trade poses challenges for authorities in detecting counterfeit goods.

Mexico has become a key destination for the global illicit cigarette trade, with Chinese-sourced illicit cigarettes accounting for most of the consumption of illicit cigarettes not produced domestically. The COVID-19 pandemic worsened the situation, as declining income and rates of social interaction among Mexican citizens led to a notable drop in legal cigarette sales and a rise in low-priced cigarette brands. This trend provided organized criminal actors with an additional source of revenue and a means of laundering other criminal proceeds. Illicit trade in excise goods extends beyond cigarettes, with more than a third of the alcoholic beverages consumed in Mexico being smuggled into the country.

Environment

Mexico’s illegal trade in timber has become a highly lucrative industry, with criminal groups relying on it as a major source of revenue. The domestic and transnational trafficking of rosewood is a considerable issue, with Chinese mafia-style groups controlling the trade, which is facilitated by local Mexican criminal networks. Mexican authorities seize dozens of illicit rosewood shipments along Pacific ports and the Yucatan Peninsula annually, primarily destined for the Chinese furniture market. This market generates hundreds of millions of dollars in annual profits and has severe consequences for local communities, including extortion fees linked to protection quotas, kidnapping, and forced disappearance. With state regulation of Mexico’s legal logging industry remaining limited, corrupt Mexican law enforcement officials have been known to engage in violence against local populations related to the market.

Mexico acts as a source, transit, and destination country for wildlife trafficking. The illegal wildlife trade in Mexico is closely linked to other organized criminal markets, particularly drug trafficking, posing a challenge for law enforcement authorities. Although Mexico has previously served as a transit country, Mexican wildlife species such as jaguars, golden eagles, totoaba fish, parrots, macaws, and reptiles are increasingly being trafficked to diverse destinations including North America, Europe, and Asia. The illicit totoaba fish trade, largely facilitated by Chinese mafia-style groups, generates hundreds of millions of dollars annually and is the most prominent wildlife trafficking operation in Mexico. The involvement of corrupt authorities in wildlife trafficking operations and market-related violence exacerbates the issue.

Theft of non-renewable resources such as oil and minerals is common, with criminal groups and corrupt officials within state-owned companies playing major roles. The Mexican government’s efforts to combat the illicit oil trade have been minimally effective, with oil theft remaining a highly lucrative source of revenue for criminal groups. Fuel theft has been linked to tax evasion, and smuggling foreign-sourced fuel into Mexico has become a common practice. The involvement of criminal groups in fuel theft has triggered a rise in violence across the country, especially in states like Guanajuato and Puebla. In addition to oil theft, criminal groups have been engaging in illicit mineral extraction, particularly gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, and iron. Territorial disputes between cartels have created an atmosphere of violence for legitimate mining companies and local communities. Mexican drug trafficking organizations have also become involved in the trafficking of Mexican-sourced mercury to South American countries that have prevalent illicit gold mining markets.

Drugs

Mexican drug trafficking organizations dominate the US’s heroin market, with almost all heroin seized and analyzed in the US originating in Mexico. Heroin production and trafficking occur primarily in north-western Mexico, in states such as Baja California, Sonora, Jalisco, Guanajuato, Queretaro, Colima, Michoacán, and Guerrero. However, in recent years, drug trafficking groups have shifted their focus to fentanyl trafficking, as it is cheaper and less labour-intensive to produce than heroin.

Mexican drug trafficking organizations are major players in the global cocaine trade, acting as brokers and transporters of the drug worldwide. Mexico is a significant transit country for cocaine from South America to the US and increasingly to the EU. Criminal groups have become more active in Central American and Colombian cocaine trafficking markets, and territorial disputes between them over control of north-bound cocaine shipment routes to the US have resulted in high levels of violence across Mexico.

Despite the legalization of cannabis in multiple US states and Canada, Mexico continues to constitute the US’ largest foreign provider of cannabis. Moreover, Mexican drug trafficking organizations are heavily involved in the production and transportation of synthetic drugs, including fentanyl and methamphetamine. Although fentanyl can be sourced directly from China through clandestine online platforms and subsequently trafficked into the US, Mexican groups have increased their activities in fentanyl production in the country. Additionally, rising demand for various forms of synthetic opioids among US drug consumers has resulted in a considerable increase in the import of synthetic opioid components into Mexico, primarily smuggled into the country through seaports in Michoacán, Campeche, and Sinaloa. Mexican cartels are involved in methamphetamine trafficking to EU ports for further distribution inside and outside the EU.

Cyber Crimes

Mexico is currently facing a surge in cyber-dependent crimes, with a large number of cyber-attacks launched through malicious software programs detected by the national guard. In recent years, federal institutions have experienced cyber-attacks, with their information systems being compromised or hijacked by criminal actors. These attacks have led to adverse reputational impacts on these institutions and have resulted in the leaking of terabytes of confidential information. Given the increasing use of technology and the internet, it is highly likely that cybercrime will continue to grow in Mexico.

Financial Crimes

Financial crimes are a major issue in Mexico, affecting state institutions, private companies, and citizens. State institutions are allegedly involved in financial crimes such as tax evasion, which is associated with the embezzlement of hydrocarbon exports and/or imports. Private companies are often victims of fraud and corruption, resulting in significant financial losses. Finance-related cybercrime has increased significantly since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Allegations of corrupt practices related to public contract appointments exist at both the federal and local government levels, elevating the risk of embezzlement and other financial crimes.

Criminal Actors

Mexico’s drug trafficking organizations are some of the most sophisticated mafia-style groups globally. They have substantial territorial control throughout the country and co-opt state institutions through bribery and intimidation. In addition to drug trafficking, these organizations engage in other criminal activities such as oil theft, human trafficking, kidnapping, and extortion, earning billions of dollars annually. Mexican drug trafficking organizations fuel violence across the country using a variety of firearms, including military-grade weapons, resulting in brutal territorial conflicts with competing drug trafficking organizations and state security entities. The state’s no-confrontation policy and perceived impunity exacerbate retaliatory attacks against law enforcement initiatives. Despite internal fragmentation reducing the number of drug trafficking organizations engaging in transnational forms of organized crime, the remaining drug trafficking organizations continue to exert significant influence across the Americas, collaborating with foreign counterparts in Asia, South America, North America, and Europe.

Smaller Mexican criminal networks have mainly emerged from crises of violence and tend to cooperate with larger mafia-style groups. Internal fragmentation within Mexican drug trafficking organizations has led to the creation of numerous loosely structured criminal networks, making them difficult to track. In recent years, state efforts to capture and kill criminal leaders have increased because of the emergence of community self-defence groups in Guerrero and Michoacán. These criminal networks engage in various forms of local criminal activity, including extortion, auto theft, oil theft, human trafficking, human smuggling, illicit mining, and drug sales. Organized crime factions are also believed to be partly responsible for the uptick in disappearances witnessed in recent years. Moreover, they still play crucial roles in the transnational drug trafficking market by providing transportation and security services to well-established drug trafficking organizations and engaging in proxy wars between dominant groups.

Mexico is plagued by state-embedded corruption, with officials at various levels facilitating organized criminal activities such as drug trafficking, oil theft, and extortion. This collusion not only funnels substantial amounts of illicit revenue to high-ranking officials but also undermines law enforcement agencies, hindering the country’s fight against organized crime. There are also reports suggesting the persistence of corrupt practices within federal institutions tasked with combating organized crime. However, corruption at the local level, including among state and municipal officials, remains a more significant concern because of the lower financial cost of collusion with low-level officials and their deeper knowledge of the territories they govern. Drug trafficking organizations have been successful in exerting notable influence over Mexico’s democratic process, allegedly going to great lengths to ensure the election and/or re-election of key political allies, including murdering politicians perceived as threats.

Private sector actors in Mexico, large and small businesses, engage in criminal activities such as tax fraud and money laundering to generate illicit revenue. Internal fraud is prevalent among private sector businesses. These actors also commit environmental crimes, including illicit mining. Private sector actors are known to engage in corrupt practices in an effort to either obtain services, permits, and licences, or to avoid sanctions. Foreign criminal actors have a limited presence in Mexico, largely because of extreme territoriality among Mexican criminal groups. Those present primarily engage in business dealings and other forms of collaboration with Mexican drug cartels. However, a notable number of criminal actors from Eastern Europe, Italy, and Asia have been arrested in the Riviera Maya and on the Yucatan Peninsula in recent years, and Salvadoran mafia leaders seeking refuge from strict regulations in El Salvador have been known to operate from inside Mexico.

Leadership and governance

The Mexican government has relied on militarization to combat organized crime, but with little success. Its efforts to fight state-embedded corruption and organized crime have been symbolic, and there is no comprehensive strategy against organized crime. Corruption and collusion between criminal groups and state-embedded actors exacerbate criminal impunity, and state initiatives to combat criminality and violence across the country have not been successful. The country’s homicide rate remains high, and cases of femicide, violence against journalists, and other crimes have increased. Political violence has also become common, with criminal groups threatening and assassinating political candidates. The current leadership won the elections with an anti-corruption campaign but has since consolidated power, reducing state transparency and accountability. Although laws and policies aim to curb corruption, criminality and impunity persist, and implementing federal transparency legislation is a substantial challenge. Concerns have been raised over corruption and autonomy with the military’s control over ports and customs activities. Conflicts have arisen between autonomous bodies and state institutions over the latter’s failure to provide information about excessive use of force and human rights violations committed by its officers.

Mexico has a history of cooperating with the US in fighting organized crime along the border. The current administration has continued this partnership, working with US authorities to combat issues like irregular migration. However, uncertainty surrounds the government’s approach to organized crime and security. The arrest of a former secretary of the Ministry of National Defence for alleged collusion with organized crime in the US led to the administration imposing strict limits on foreign agents’ interactions with Mexican authorities, preventing US Drug Enforcement Administration agents from operating in the country. Mexico has ratified several international treaties linked to fighting organized crime, demonstrating its commitment to international cooperation. However, Mexico’s legislative apparatus has significant structural deficiencies that hinder law enforcement authorities’ ability to combat various forms of organized crime.

Criminal justice and security

Mexico’s judicial system is plagued by corruption and inefficiency, which have weakened anti-organized crime efforts. High levels of pre-trial detention and major judicial backlogs are a result of the inefficient processing of court cases. There are also concerns about judicial autonomy, given the appointment of Supreme Court of Justice judges with close political ties to the executive. Additionally, the country struggles with investigating and prosecuting serious crimes despite recent judicial reforms. Overreliance on single eye-witness testimonies makes the outcomes of criminal cases relatively easy to manipulate.

The Mexican government has made efforts to improve law enforcement and combat organized crime, including through US-funded trainings, improvements in intelligence infrastructure and strategy planning. However, corruption and human rights abuses continue to hinder these initiatives. Public trust in law enforcement is low, and the replacement of the federal police with the national guard has been criticized for focusing on policing undocumented people, and for excessive force and human rights violations. The national guard is perceived as ineffective in reducing criminality and violence. The fight against organized crime is seen as a federal responsibility, limiting investments in local public security structures. The Mexican and US governments have agreed on a mechanism to increase collaboration in the fight against organized crime, with the US focusing on synthetic drug trafficking and Mexico on arms trafficking.

Mexico shares land borders with the US, Guatemala, and Belize, making it a crucial transit point for illegal activities such as drug and arms trafficking. Despite collaboration with the US Customs and Border Protection Agency, the National Customs Agency of Mexico is weak because of a lack of funding and institutional capacity. Many border crossings are controlled by organized crime groups engaged in cross-border activities with impunity. In some regions, organized crime has entirely replaced the state’s territorial sovereignty, leading to the absence of the rule of law. Mexico’s national guard has shifted its focus to containing migration flows, neglecting efforts to combat organized criminal elements who are exploiting migratory patterns and border porosity.

Economic and financial environment

Mexico’s legislative framework for anti-money laundering (AML) has proven ineffective because of corruption and a lack of institutional capacity. Investigations and prosecutions of money laundering cases, particularly those of a transnational nature, are rare, resulting in low conviction rates. The conflict between Mexico’s Financial Intelligence Unit and the Attorney General is alleged to have hindered the development of a comprehensive AML framework. Illicit drug revenue generated from transporting drugs across the US-Mexico border is a key source of criminal revenue, with laundered funds passing through Mexican financial institutions. Organized crime groups in Mexico invest in financial and physical assets such as property and businesses, using various strategies such as forging invoices or misrepresenting the value of goods or services to facilitate money laundering.

Mexico’s commission for economic regulation is responsible for economic regulatory activities aimed at preventing illicit business practices. However, the government’s reluctance to propose new commissioners in various institutions has reportedly impaired their capacity to fulfil their respective duties. This situation has affected the implementation of up-to-date legal frameworks addressing foreign investments and cryptocurrencies.

Civil society and social protection

Mexico’s victim and witness support mechanisms are lacking, with little attention paid to supporting victims of human rights violations, human trafficking and forced disappearances. Although the Mexican government has made efforts to prosecute traffickers and identify victims, it has failed to allocate sufficient funds to victim assistance. Overall authorities did not consistently employ a victim-centered approach and the services made available and provided to victims were inadequate.

The Mexican government’s current policies for preventing criminal activity are ineffective because of limited law enforcement capacity and a lack of comprehensive strategies. Despite claiming crime prevention as a priority, the government’s impact on record-high levels of violence remains uncertain. Efforts to prevent low-income people from turning to organized crime, such as community engagement initiatives and social programmes, have had limited success, and a specific comprehensive strategy aimed at preventing human trafficking is lacking.

The weakness of Mexican civil society can be attributed in part to the limited resources available to independent media and NGOs. Journalists and media employees are at high risk of violence and homicide, and the government has been hostile towards civil society actors, freezing federal funding for hundreds of non-profit organizations. The government’s failure to condemn or combat violence against journalists and media employees has been seen as tacit approval of these crimes, exacerbating high levels of violence and impunity across the country. Collusion between organized criminal actors and corrupt state officials further threatens the safety of journalists, media employees, and civil society actors who frequently receive threats or are subjected to violence.

People

Although driven primarily by local demand, the US human trafficking market accrues profit both domestically and internationally. Foreign criminal networks dominate the market, with most victims coming from Mexico, Honduras or the US. Vulnerable groups include homeless youth, minors in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems, non-citizen workers, disabled individuals, LGBTQ+ individuals, drug addicts, indigenous women and girls, and victims of domestic violence. Internet and social media platforms have largely replaced traditional sex trafficking recruitment venues.

There is a highly consolidated human smuggling market along the US–Mexico border, where various domestic and foreign criminal actors, as well as both US and Mexican officials, facilitate the smuggling of people into the US. While Mexican nationals remain the largest group of migrants smuggled into the US, many others hail from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. Smuggling of migrants from countries such as Ecuador, Brazil, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Haiti and Cuba, mainly linked to declining socio-political circumstances after the COVID-19 pandemic, has also increased in recent years. Human smuggling costs have risen, and victims are increasingly susceptible to various forms of exploitation, including drug trafficking. Before the reversal of restrictive COVID-19 policies, many asylum seekers were forced to remain in unsafe areas of northern Mexico under threats of violence and extortion by local criminal groups.

Even though extortion and protection rackets are conducted by both domestic and transnational crime groups operating in the US, these criminal activities are not pervasive in the country, with only limited and sporadic instances reported in recent years.

Trade

The US arms trafficking market is large and considerable, with the country serving as both a source and destination for difficult-to-purchase firearms, including machine guns. Guns that are trafficked within and across state lines contribute significantly to domestic violence, but the scope of the market is also transnational. The US, for instance, is a major source of illicit foreign weapons and ammunition in Brazil and is responsible for a large portion of the arms seized in Mexico. Weapons sourced from the US often end up in the hands of armed gangs, drug traffickers and terrorist organizations abroad, sparking controversial debates over the links between arms proliferation, criminal violence and global terrorism. In recent years, the increasing severity of gun violence has reignited the gun control debate and further polarized partisan divides, with a record number of domestic gun-related deaths, including suicides, homicides and mass shootings.

Counterfeiting crimes cause significant financial losses to the US economy, with billions of dollars in annual damages. The increase in counterfeit imports through online platforms, and easy access to US-based consumers via international shipping companies has led to a surge in illicit products circulating within the country. The majority of intellectual property-infringing products are imported from Asia, mainly China, followed by Türkiye and Vietnam. Counterfeit luxury goods, including watches, jewellery, handbags, wallets and consumer electronics account for most of the counterfeit products seized in the US.

While the US imposes excise taxes on various goods and activities, there is little evidence of significant illicit trade of excise goods, except for cigarettes. Some states experience black- and grey-market sale of cigarettes due to excessive taxes, leading to the transportation of tobacco products between low-tax and high-tax states and various Native American tribal lands. New York has the highest rate of inbound illicit cigarette traffic, followed by California, Washington, New Mexico and Minnesota. On the other hand, New Hampshire witnessed the highest rate of outbound illicit cigarette traffic, followed by Idaho, Virginia, Wyoming and North Dakota. Cigarette smuggling is a significant national issue that presents challenges at sub-national, national and global levels.

Environment

In the US, plant poaching has increased significantly, and recent reports show that poaching of dudleya plants in California has caused severe environmental damage. Despite being at risk of extinction due to Asian demand, the CITES-protected ginseng root has not been classified as endangered by US authorities. Poaching-related clashes have resulted in fatalities, and although rare, some poachers face prison sentences. While the US is not known for widespread illicit logging, it imports wood from countries with high rates of illegal logging, including Latin American timber and Honduran mahogany.

Wildlife crime is a significant problem in the US, which serves as a source, transit and destination for the illegal trade of wildlife and wildlife-derived products. The illegal trade involves both domestic and foreign-sourced animals and products, and the lack of a comprehensive strategy to combat the trade domestically means that high-value wildlife products often end up in the hands of unsuspecting consumers. Wildlife exploitation has caused significant environmental damage, leading to the loss of indigenous species and habitats. The market for wildlife trafficking in the country continues to be a lucrative criminal enterprise worth billions of dollars annually.

The illegal market for gold in the US is primarily sourced from Latin America, including countries such as Venezuela and Colombia, and smuggled into the country through small planes, charter jets or by using fraudulent paperwork. The gold is sold to American or foreign refiners who then sell gold bars to multinational corporations. Criminal actors, both domestic and foreign, participate in the trade of other valuable metals, minerals and stones, including silver, copper, coal, emeralds and uranium from countries such as Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Guyana. Despite a ban on Venezuelan gold by Caribbean islands like Curaçao and Aruba, the trade continues through other Latin American countries with little regulation or enforcement from US law enforcement officials. Gold is classified as a commodity rather than a monetary instrument, which hinders US law enforcement officials from combatting money laundering linked to illegal gold flows.

Drugs

The heroin trade is pervasive in the US, and closely connected to fentanyl, which had led to an increase in opioid addictions and a major public health crisis. Mexican mafia-style groups have a significant influence over the market, controlling smuggling routes and collaborating with US-based criminal networks to transport heroin throughout the country. Although Mexican-sourced heroin dominates the market, heroin from Colombia and Afghanistan also enters the country via sea and air. The US heroin trade also fuels territorial violence, has been linked to an increase in children in foster care programmes, and contributes to the transmission of diseases such as Hepatitis C and HIV through shared syringes. Despite a decrease in identified heroin trafficking offenders and heroin seizures, opioid-related deaths in the US have increased in recent years.

The US has a large and consolidated cocaine trade that is dominated by Colombian criminal groups for supply, Mexican networks for transportation, and US-based gangs for retail distribution. Most cocaine smuggled into the US comes across the US–Mexico border. Although cocaine consumption has declined slightly due to the increased availability of cheaper drugs such as opioids, drug overdoses remain a common threat, especially as cocaine is increasingly mixed with fentanyl or other synthetic opioids. The increase in cocaine production and availability in recent years has made Colombian-sourced cocaine the primary driver of the US cocaine trade, followed by Peru.

The cannabis trade in the US is among the top 10 worldwide, but its legality varies across state lines, making it difficult to assess the market's criminality. While some states permit both the medical and personal use of cannabis, others only allow medical use or prohibit it entirely, resulting in a fragmented and developing legal framework that engenders uncertainty for law enforcement officials and hinders state initiatives to combat cannabis-related crime. The majority of domestically circulating cannabis is illicitly produced by US-based drug trafficking organizations and state-licensed local growers, while foreign-sourced marijuana is also trafficked into the US from Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean. However, Mexican and Caribbean-sourced marijuana is considered inferior in quality to both US and Canadian-sourced marijuana.

The US synthetic drug trade is one of the largest in the world and poses a significant threat to public health and national security. Synthetic opioids such as fentanyl dominate the market, with a major share of drug overdose deaths involving this drug. Mexican drug cartels import raw materials from Asia to produce and traffic fentanyl, along with counterfeit versions of popular drugs like Adderall and Valium. Mexican-sourced methamphetamine is also commonly consumed, but a crackdown on precursor chemicals has led to dangerous reformulation by Mexican drug cartels. The emergence of a new synthetic opioid called isotonitazene is also a concern. Despite US law enforcement efforts to combat the synthetic drug trade, dark web fentanyl transactions and traditional drug trafficking routes continue to pose challenges.

Cyber Crimes

The US is considered to be at high risk for cyber-dependent crime as compared to other countries. Among the most commonly committed cyber-dependent crimes are ransomware attacks, hacking and personal data breaches, which result in annual losses of billions of dollars. Ransomware attacks have targeted larger sums of money and impacted critical infrastructure sectors such as the defence industrial base, food and agriculture, government facilities and information technology. Russian-based ransomware gangs are the most aggressive attackers of US enterprises, and the rise in ransomware attacks can be attributed to poor corporate security measures and a thriving ransomware-as-a-service industry. Reports indicate that a significant number of affected companies have paid ransoms, but over half were able to recover their lost data. Emerging scams involving non-fungible tokens and cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin also constitute a significant threat.

Financial Crimes

Financial crimes have become an increasingly pressing issue in the US. A growing number of citizens are falling victim to fraud and collectively losing billions of dollars each year. Imposter and shopping scams are among the most common types of fraud. Business email compromise schemes and identity fraud have also seen an uptick in recent years. While states like Georgia, Maryland, Delaware, Nevada and Florida have reported the highest number of scam complaints, California has experienced the greatest financial losses from these crimes. One contributing factor to the prevalence of financial crime in the US is the differing financial regulations among states, which have allowed some states to become offshore destinations for foreign tax evasion. Delaware, Nevada, Wyoming and South Dakota are considered among the riskiest states in this regard. Tax evasion is estimated to reach over a trillion dollars in annual losses, with tax revenue accounting for a smaller percentage of GDP than at most other times in recent US history. In 2021, wealthy corporations were responsible for over half of the unpaid tax revenue in the US.

Criminal Actors

Smaller criminal networks and gangs, particularly those specializing in drug trafficking, reportedly receive the most attention from US investigators and prosecutors. There are tens of thousands of active criminal gangs across the country. Criminal networks and gangs often collaborate with foreign drug trafficking networks and employ high levels of violence to carry out their operations. Private sector actors in the US are known to be heavily involved in financial crime, including tax evasion and corrupt schemes, which are difficult to detect and are often tied to political corruption. While corruption in the US private sector is relatively low, it poses a significant risk to the economy and society as a whole, with potentially devastating consequences for public trust and confidence in key institutions.

Mafia-style groups continue to be active criminal actors in the US. A variety of mafias are still operational in the country, with an estimated several thousand associates based there. They exert territorial control over areas such as New York, southern New Jersey and Philadelphia. In addition, mafia-style groups continue to operate in Chicago and other places, sometimes forming alliances with other criminal enterprises. These groups engage in drug trafficking, money laundering and healthcare fraud targeting Medicare. Members of these groups have easy access to weapons and carry arms openly. Mafia-style groups are also linked to labour racketeering, extortion and union-related corruption schemes. Outlaw motorcycle gangs have been involved in mafia-style killings. Foreign criminal groups also have a significant influence on various criminal activities in the US, including drug and human trafficking, cybercrime and election interference. Central American criminal organizations dominate the drug trafficking market, but Mexican, Dominican and Colombian-based groups also have a share. Asian criminal groups control the trafficking of cannabis, MDMA and precursor chemicals. In addition to drugs and human trafficking, foreign actors also play a significant role in cybercrime.

Evidence directly linking state-embedded actors to organized criminal markets – on either domestic or transnational levels – remains elusive. In fact, corruption in the public sector, public procurement and tax administration sectors of the US economy is relatively uncommon. However, the proliferation of locally-based corruption among US officials – especially in relation to transnational criminal activity along the US–Mexico border – is an increasing concern.

Leadership and governance

Recent challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic, exposed structural problems in the federal government and emphasized the differences in strength of local and state governing bodies. Along with domestic issues, the US faces external conflicts, nuclear tensions with North Korea and Iran, trade- and Taiwan-related tensions with China, and foreign influence campaigns from Russia and China. The political scene is polarized, making it difficult for any government to implement its agenda, and posing a risk to the local and global economy due to the politicization of the debt ceiling. Against this backdrop, however, the US has proven to be capable of addressing the organized crime situation in the country, with evidence indicating that the state is sufficiently robust to meet the challenge. Nevertheless, organized crime continues to be a significant problem, with ongoing challenges to governance due to deep political divisions over anti-corruption strategies. Although the current government has launched initiatives to address transparency and accountability issues, several legislative reforms remain pending.

The US is a signatory to several international treaties and conventions related to organized crime and generally complies with international anti-organized crime regulations. The current administration has increased international cooperation efforts in comparison to the previous one. It rejoined the Paris Climate Agreement and is focusing on extradition treaties, especially given the rise in cybercrime. US–Mexico relations have provided for relatively smooth extradition processes in the past, but tensions have risen due to various incidents involving drug-related charges. However, US authorities have relied heavily on Mexican support to combat irregular immigration along the US–Mexico border. Since the outbreak of the Russia–Ukraine war, the US has collaborated with NATO allies to provide both military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. The US has a robust legal framework against organized crime, criminalizing various forms and outlining investigation, arrest, prosecution, adjudication and punishment procedures. The current administration has implemented several legal reforms, including repealing previous policies and laws on energy conservation, environmental protections, H1-B visas and other issues. One of the most controversial reforms has been vacating the previous policy of facilitating extrajudicial deportation of smuggled people and asylum seekers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, legislative reform regarding anti-counterfeit legislation has garnered widespread support, with one relevant piece of legislation amended to require online marketplaces to engage in preventative practices such as verifying sellers' identities and screening for counterfeits before sellers' goods appear on the platform. A lack of federal anti-gun legislation, which resulted in an increasing dependence on individual state legislation, has rendered weapons transport across state lines a relatively easy affair. Loopholes in various state-level policies, such as variations on the requirement of background checks for weapons purchases, also render state legislation easy to exploit. These shortcomings resulted in an alarming increase in mass shootings across the US.

Criminal justice and security

Recent years have seen an increasing politicization of the US judicial system, with concerns over partisan judicial appointments and campaign fundraising leading to fears of judicial bias. Both the previous and current administrations have made record-high judicial appointments. Additionally, executive and legislative officials in some states have sought influence over state-level judiciary affairs, which has narrowed judicial independence. Issues impacting the US judicial system and leading to high incarceration rates include deficiencies in the parole system, funding shortages for public defence, racial bias and the imposition of minor offence-related court fees. Despite that, there is a sufficient framework to respond to major organized crime issues. The US currently has the largest known prison population worldwide, with millions of individuals incarcerated or in pre-trial detention in federal or state prisons. The extensive use of plea bargaining and overcrowding in US prisons are also raising concerns, although efforts have reportedly been made by the Biden administration with regards to overincarceration. The use of the death penalty has declined significantly over the years.

A number of agencies working within the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security focus on organized crime at the federal level. A Department of State bureau also specifically focuses on organized crime, and the US is one of few countries in the region that has a federal agency specifically focused on guns, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Moreover, the Department of Justice - via both the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force - leads US efforts to combat cybercrime. However, while state and local law enforcement agencies receive more resources, which may indicate the prioritization of fighting organized crime, issues such as unqualified leadership, poor candidate screening and weak staff training continue to be a concern. Police killings, which have racial disparities, have eroded public trust in law enforcement officials. Police brutality rates have remained consistent since George Floyd's death, and efforts to reform the US law enforcement system have been limited.

The US shares land borders with Canada and Mexico; the border with Mexico is a significant challenge for the country’s territorial integrity due to its proximity to multiple transnational criminal markets. Customs and Border Protection officials monitor hundreds of land, sea and air points of entry, but their efficacy has been called into question as criminal networks continuously circumvent US border regulations. The US is considered the most cyber-capable country worldwide in terms of both hacking and digital defence. The country's increasing reliance on technology has expanded the number of potential hacking targets, and the growing brazenness of geopolitical adversaries, including Russia, China, Iran and North Korea, makes the US highly vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Moreover, the internet of things has led to an increase in targeting of the government through an uptick in crimes such as spying on government agencies, stealing sensitive information from public and private sector entities, stealing intellectual property and destroying computer equipment.

Economic and financial environment

The global dominance of the US dollar makes it highly vulnerable to money laundering, given the sheer magnitude of global financial transactions flowing through US banking institutions. These transactions involve crimes such as fraud, drug trafficking, human smuggling, human trafficking and corruption. In recent years, large-scale reforms aimed at increasing the country’s AML capacity have been implemented. However, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, which is the world's leading AML watchdog, has been underfunded and overstretched, lacking adequate capacity to effectively combat money laundering. It is estimated that approximately one quarter of all funds laundered worldwide are made through US-based financial institutions. Although most US states have robust anti-money laundering legislative frameworks, money laundering risks tend to vary by state.

While economic regulatory capacity is not lacking in the US, the political will to empower and encourage adequate oversight remains a challenge. Despite an increase in GDP per capita after the pandemic, mounting consumer prices due to the great resignation, chip scarcity and problems with the global supply chain drove an uptick in inflation throughout 2022, reaching a 40-year high. The US is the largest economy in the world, but increasing government overspending and the politicization of the debt ceiling pose serious risks to the national and global economy.

Civil society and social protection

There have been increasing efforts made to support crime victims and witnesses in recent years, and numerous victim and witness support programmes exist across the country. However, the most common ones are still operated by non-profit and faith-based organizations, followed by governmental organizations. The US federal Witness Security Program provides 24-hour protection to all witnesses, and there have been no reports of witnesses who follow programme guidelines ever being harmed or killed while under its protection. National media efforts have also increased the effectiveness of US-based victim and witness support services.

Efforts by the US government to prevent organized crime faced challenges during the previous administration, but they are recovering. The focus of the anti-drug trafficking strategy has shifted toward a preventative healthcare approach, with increased investment in addiction treatment and alternative pain medication. However, critics are calling for more extensive public awareness campaigns to prevent drug-related issues. The authorities have also sought to limit both the domestic production and foreign import of opioids through counter-narcotic assistance to source countries, legal restrictions on the medical prescription of opioids and rehabilitative approaches toward opioid consumers. In terms of cybersecurity, the US is developing federal- and state-level preventative initiatives in response to an increased number of cyber-attacks, especially ransomware.

Civil society actors provide a significant portion of available victim and witness support services in the US. While legislation grants widespread freedoms to NGOs pursuing their respective civic or political agendas, labour unions lack similar freedoms and have significantly declined in strength. Republican-led states have also passed problematic electoral laws that have rendered voting more difficult and raised risks of greater partisan interference in election management, vote counting and certification. The country boasts a robust tradition of press and media freedom. However, several chronic issues remain, despite some advances by the current administration. In particular, online harassment of journalists, particularly women and minorities, threatens their safety and quality of life. Public distrust in the media reached unprecedented levels due to issues such as media polarization, fuelling of dangerous conspiracy theories, the disappearance of local news outlets and the weakening of journalism by social media and other digital platforms. The residual impact of widespread polarization, misinformation and the incitement of violence has led to lingering erosion of societal cohesion and politics, as well as violent uprisings.