America’s most dangerous mountain, where Mexican cartels now have TOTAL control: ‘It’s like a scene out of Sicario’

A nearly mile-high Catholic church hill near El Paso, Texas — the giant statue of Jesus Christ has drawn worshippers to its summit for decades — has been turned into a human trafficking stronghold by Mexican drug cartels, robbing, beating and raping migrants as they make their way to the U.S.

Mount Cristo Rey is located largely on U.S. soil, just inside the border at Sunland Park, New Mexico, where that state, Texas, and Mexico meet at a now dangerous boundary.

The mountain is now completely in the hands of Mexican drug cartels who use it to smuggle illegal immigrants into the country, and visitors are warned.

Officials with the Texas Department of Public Safety gave DailyMail.com a glimpse into the dangers of Mount Cristo Rey, handing out night-vision goggles for a secret helicopter tour after dark — the busiest time for human smuggling.

They explained that any green dots we might see through the special equipment were from smugglers, whose body heat was visible through the goggles.

And indeed, when we looked at the Mexican side of the mountain and put on our goggles, we saw that the landscape was full of green dots. It reminded us of a scene from the Hollywood movie ‘Sicario.’

At 4,600 feet (1,420 meters) high, the mountain’s highest points are no-man’s land, with no law enforcement presence, allowing gang members to rob, assault, and sexually abuse with complete freedom.

On the American side, people living on the base describe the horrors of naked migrant women appearing on their doorsteps, covered in blood, begging for help.

In the sixth largest city in Texas is Mount Cristo Rey (Spanish for Christ the King) is a religious shrine that many Catholic believers in El Paso will climb at some point in their lives.

Around Easter, often on Good Friday, church-led pilgrimages take place. The faithful climb 4 kilometres and then descend 4 kilometres to commemorate Christ’s journey to Golgotha, where he was crucified.

Stations of the Cross can be found along the rough paths.

Walking on the Cristo Rey is considered safe during this period, as the Catholic Diocese guarantees the safety of the hundreds of people who come here.

But as the Mount Cristo Rey Restoration Committee official website warnsthe rest of the year, ‘YOU CLIMB AT YOUR OWN RISK!’

‘Vandalism, assaults and robberies remain an ongoing problem and visitors are encouraged to come on days when organised events are being held and security is present. Visit the events page for upcoming event dates,’ the monument’s website warns.

While the Cristo Rey Border Patrol has long guarded against illegal border crossers, activity has increased since 2021 as the border crisis has brought historically high numbers of migrants into the area.

The cartels control the mountain, not the US authorities, even though the smugglers are on the mountaintop illegally in the US.

According to sources within the service, the situation has gotten so out of hand that the US Border Patrol has handed over control to the cartels.

Teenage scouts working for the drug cartels spend most of their day high in the mountains, looking for a chance to smuggle illegal immigrants through the rugged hills into the US.

Rather than sending out agents every time they see a smuggler (which almost always happens), the agency has decided that in most cases it is better to let the migrants come to them.

According to the Border Patrol, it is the migrants who are having a hard time, not the agents. Here, resources can be pooled to stop runaways.

Furthermore, sending even a handful of agents up the mountain at night would put the agents themselves at risk, as there would be the potential for one-on-one confrontations with cartel members, who may or may not be armed.

Smugglers often guide illegal immigrants through Cristo Rey because the distance seems shorter on paper, but it is fraught with danger.

“They’ll move them through the valleys and canyons in the Cristo Rey Mountains, but even that short trip to McNutt (Road in Sunland Park, New Mexico),” Border Patrol spokesman Landon Hutchens told DailyMail.com.

‘The linear distance may not be that great, but when you’re traveling over rough terrain, with no shade, and the ground temperature on the rocks is 52 degrees Celsius, migrants can very easily die within a short distance.’

Once the migrants approach the border, officers on foot or horseback are ready to arrest the illegal border crossers.

Migrants who pass through the Border Patrol are escorted to getaway cars by smugglers on the mountain.

“These polleros (smugglers) use cell phones to direct the migrants. They say, ‘Run,’” Hutchens said.

Mount Cristo Rey is visited by locals all year round, mainly for hiking.

According to the Sunland Park Fire Department, which responds to 911 calls, smugglers who normally leave U.S. citizens alone are ambushing and beating American hikers, taking their phones and any valuables they may have.

The real horrors happen to migrants in the mountains, where women are regularly raped, beaten and stripped naked.

A man who lives at the bottom of Mount Cristo Rey in Sunland Park told DailyMail.com that he has seen incredible things from his home.

He doesn’t want to give his name, but because of its location near the mountain, illegal immigrants sometimes come to his door.

Sometimes they just want water or food, but sometimes they have no clothes.

“The other morning, it was early, about 7 in the morning. The doorbell rang and there was a woman standing there completely naked. She was bleeding all over. I can only imagine what happened to her up there,” he said, pointing toward Mount Cristo Rey.

“I woke my wife up and we got her some clothes. We called 911. Border Patrol came and picked her up.”

Locals living in the shadow of the religious shrine turned drug cartel find it hard to understand why migrants would be willing to pay such a high price to enter the US illegally.

“I don’t know why they take so many risks. Maybe I would too if I were them — or maybe not. I guess we’ll never know, since we were born here. It’s hard to say what we would do in their shoes.”