Los Angeles Times

Human smugglers face a dry spell with Mexico's crackdown on Central American migration

AGUACATAN, Guatemala - These are lean times for Hugo and others in his time-honored profession.

He hasn't worked regularly in weeks and is back in college studying accounting, which he took up after ditching criminal science as unsuitable considering his full-time gig.

"It's just too hard to do the job right now," said Hugo, who makes his living as a people smuggler, or coyote, guiding migrants on the often-perilous journey from Guatemala through Mexico to the U.S. border.

A crackdown by Mexican authorities - acting at the insistence of President Donald Trump - has dramatically reduced the flow

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