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The Rise of The Egg Smuggler
Haan Palcu-Chang
January 23, 2023
G'day, When we hear the words "US-Mexico border," "smuggling," and "contraband" come up in a single sentence, there's probably only one thing that comes to most people's minds: eggs. Yes, eggs. Or huevos, en espanyol.
Two weeks ago we wrote about the soaring egg prices in the US. The incredibly rapid rise in the cost of making a good breakfast scramble, has resulted in a spike in egg smuggling from Mexico to the US. A 30-count carton of eggs in Juárez, Mexico currently goes for $3.40, while in states such as California, a dozen goes for as high as $7.37. This has led to a wave of illicit egg seizures at US border checkpoints, where officers are required to confiscate and destroy any uncooked eggs coming into the country. Seriously, they take illegal raw eggs real serious in the US of A:
The San Diego Field Office has recently noticed an increase in the number of eggs intercepted at our ports of entry. As a reminder, uncooked eggs are prohibited entry from Mexico into the U.S. Failure to declare agriculture items can result in penalties of up to $10,000.
— Director of Field Operations Jennifer De La O (@DFOSanDiegoCA)
1:30 AM • Jan 18, 2023
Most of the egg smugglers have, up until this point, been people making an honest mistake. And, therefore, it's been a very unorganized affair with individuals acting independently. But we do wonder how much longer egg prices have to stay high before this becomes an organized racket, leading to some type of El Chapo of eggs.
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