Julian Dorey Podcast #336 Summary

Episode Title: BREAKING: CJNG Cartel is Abducting Women, Forcing C-Sections & Selling Kids | Katarina Szulc
Date: September 16, 2025
Host: Julian Dorey
Guest: Katarina (Kat) Szulc, investigative journalist

Episode Overview

This urgent episode features investigative journalist Katarina Szulc, who breaks a disturbing, unprecedented story about the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) in Mexico. According to her findings, CJNG is abducting pregnant women in Juarez, Mexico, performing forced cesarean sections (often lethally), and selling the surviving infants to American buyers across the border in El Paso, Texas. The episode delves into the mechanics of this operation, the socio-political implications, and the broader context of cartel violence, international trafficking, and the complicity or apathy of authorities and buyers. Kat and Julian dissect the moral, legal, and systemic failures surrounding this criminal racket.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Breaking the Story: The CJNG "Infant Trafficking" Racket

• Kat’s Investigation
  • Source: Mexican law enforcement contact; corroborated with multiple sources on both sides of the border.
  • Operation details: Vulnerable, poor, pregnant women in Juarez (border city across from El Paso) are abducted late in pregnancy, held in "trap houses," and their babies are cut out by an OBGYN working for CJNG (rudimentary C-sections).
  • The mothers are killed in the process; bodies show extreme violence and mutilation.
    • Quote, Kat: "This is by far the worst story I've ever covered." [00:00, 02:06]
    • "They're literally being dumped, like, completely cut open. ...Their guts are literally hanging out and it's just, like, battered..." [18:33]
  • Victims: Dozens so far (less than 100), young and impoverished women with little to no family support, often single mothers.
    • "They're all from poor neighborhoods, and they all come from low socioeconomic backgrounds." [16:07]
    • Victims’ families do not seek justice due to fear of reprisal and systemic futility. [16:19]
  • Buyers: Well-off Americans, presumed aware of the illicit origin. Babies are sold for "hundreds of thousands of dollars" each, often using forged adoption paperwork and fraudulent health records for border crossing.
    • Quote, Kat: "It's hard for me to believe these people do not know where it's coming from." [10:59]
    • Julian: "If you’re getting handed an infant from some dude in a suit and handing them a hundred thousand dollars... you know everything." [48:20]
  • Motivation: CJNG is replacing lost revenue from tightened border drug/human smuggling with this new, high-value operation. [09:50]

2. Cartel Operations and Structure

• CJNG’s Unprecedented Power
  • CJNG described as the fastest-expanding, most violent cartel in Mexico’s history, known for absorbing or allying with smaller gangs.
    • Kat: "They have managed to absorb power at a rate that we've never really seen before." [05:08]
    • Julian: “It's like a Fortune 500... but it's sick.” [07:23]
  • “Absorption” defined: CJNG takes over local gangs/mafias, embedding its own people while letting locals still earn, but under CJNG’s banner. [06:03]
  • No code: Unlike old mob rules ("no women/kids"), CJNG targets anyone—innocent women, children, bystanders. [07:12]
  • Comparison to old cartels: Increasingly extreme tactics for profit and power demonstrations.

3. Trafficking Mechanics and Border Issues

• Border Crossing:
  • Babies are trafficked with forged documents, crossing at regular ports of entry (Juarez to El Paso), likely sedated for transport.
    • Kat: "I have a feeling that they're sedating the babies." [24:09]
  • U.S. side requires some form of adoption paperwork—unclear how this is handled or who on the American side is involved.
  • Investigation is ongoing; law enforcement became aware due to irregular paperwork, not missing women.
• Human trafficking as a business: Survival of operations despite border crackdowns—cartels simply shift focus to whatever is most lucrative/high demand. [10:06]

4. Social, Political, and Ethical Implications

• Victim Blaming, Public Apathy, and Desensitization
  • Public is largely apathetic toward ongoing femicides and trafficking in Juarez since the 1990s.
    • "There’s been a crisis of missing and murdered women since the 1990s..." [08:26]
  • Societal desensitization due to constant exposure to sex, violence, and "sex work is empowering" rhetoric is making real coercion/abuse invisible.
    • "It's completely the opposite from empowering in any sense. ...they're dying for it." [73:33]
    • Kat: “You’re just constantly being fed sex in a way that it’s like you don’t... it’s not even natural anymore. It doesn’t make sense.” [76:48]
  • Fear of retaliation silences victims’ families, even when the violence is extreme and public.
    • "There's a major fear of retaliation, and there's also just a lack of even understanding how to go about this." [16:19]
• American Complicity
  • Emphasis that U.S. buyers are integral—“this is not just a Mexico problem.”
  • Kat: “Now Americans are implicated. …These are Americans who are fully implicated in cartel and funding cartel operations.” [24:47]
• Potential for copycat crimes:
  • Discussion about risk of the “infant trafficking” method spreading to other cartels; urgent need for immediate law enforcement intervention. [57:38]
• Policy and Enforcement Failure
  • Both U.S. and Mexican political/institutional responses are described as performative or reluctant.
    • “Why hasn't... Trump... not talked about this yet? ...This is brand new, right? I just broke this story..." [59:13–60:19]
    • Kat: "Canada's fentanyl czar said, 'I have no power.' ...It's so ridiculous." [121:11–122:14]
  • Death penalty and extradition ambiguity: High profile cartel leaders rarely face ultimate consequences, many treated as intelligence assets. [90:49, 98:10–99:03]

5. Human Trafficking: Broader Context

• Other cartel trafficking rackets
  • Besides infant trafficking, sex trafficking and "enslaved prostitution" (especially of South American women brought to Mexican border towns) are described in detail—debt bondage, violence, efforts to go independent resulting in murder.
    • Recommendations: Watch Netflix's "Zona Divas" for insight. [71:47]
  • Organ harvesting suggested as plausible, even in extermination camps disguised as “training camps”. [40:40, 104:37–107:01]
• Barriers to reporting/intervention
  • Kat refuses to pressure or pay victims' families for interviews, citing ethical concerns and risk.
    • "If it impacts the person's livelihood or life, don't do it." [54:10]
    • "I would never want to put someone in that position..." [54:35]

6. Meta-Discussion: Risks and Responsibility in Investigative Journalism

• Personal risk for journalists
  • Kat details her evolving safety protocols, now using security teams due to increased recognition and risk.
    • "This is not something I would... raw dog. ...Because the stakes are so high... I'm taking security precautions." [42:02]
  • She discusses careful calibration of how much to reveal based on risk to herself and to ongoing investigations.
• Mission
  • Kat frames her reporting as a way to give voice to victims (especially women and children), and put pressure on authorities to act.
    • "If I can be the messenger... great, that's the goal." [40:01]
    • "I put myself in the position of these women... I cannot fathom what that would feel like." [14:21]
  • Julian: “You’re giving a lot of people credit I hope they could live up to, but I’m not sure if they would [do this work].” [41:28]

7. Expanding Kat’s Investigative Work

• On future plans:
  • Kat is expanding coverage beyond Mexico/CJNG, aiming for international attacks on organized crime, trafficking, tragedies, and government abuses—supported by Ironclad Media for more in-depth, on-location reporting and documentaries.
    • "Why don't we take the coverage international... show you as if it's from your own two eyes what the fuck is happening..." [151:13]
  • Planned deep-dive on Canadian drug kingpin Ryan Wedding—a story of an Olympic snowboarder who became a major player in international trafficking and murder.
    • “He went from the slopes to the other slopes...” [137:56]
    • Wedding’s right hand, Andrew Clark, just arrested in Mexico and "singing like a canary" to DEA. [142:32–143:11]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• Kat on the horror of the story:
  “This is by far the worst story I’ve ever covered.” [00:00, 02:06]
• On Americans as buyers:
  “Now Americans are implicated… These are Americans who are fully implicated in cartel and funding cartel operations.” [24:47]
• On buyer complicity:
  Julian: “If you’re getting handed an infant from some dude in a suit and handing them a hundred thousand dollars... you know everything.” [48:20]
• On fear and impunity:
  "There's a major fear of retaliation, and there's also just a lack of even understanding of how to go about this." [16:19]
• Graphic reality:
  “They're literally being dumped, like, completely cut open… their guts are literally hanging out...” [18:33]
• Desensitization and culture:
  “It has completely changed the public perception of sex, sexual violence and sex trafficking… when you have these women who are absolute victims… they’re not even being viewed as that by the public because everyone is so desensitized.” [78:28]
• On the inevitability of adaptation in organized crime:
  “These guys will always find a way to make money.” [10:06]
• On the difficulty and risks of reporting:
  "This is not something I would... raw dog. ...Because the stakes are so high... I'm taking security precautions.” [42:02]
• On the role of the press:
  “There should always be Free Press 100% in every area… that’s a pillar of…” [153:16]

Important Segment Timestamps

• CJNG Abduction/Operation Description: [00:00 – 03:46, 02:06, 18:29]
• Cartel background/power absorption: [05:08 – 07:12]
• Societal/family context for victims: [16:03 – 18:11]
• How trafficking is happening (border, buyers): [22:18 – 26:01]
• Ethics of journalism, source protection: [14:21 – 14:50; 54:00 – 55:13]
• Broader human trafficking / sex trafficking context: [70:13 – 79:31]
• Organ harvesting accusations: [40:40, 104:37–107:01]
• Failure of authorities (U.S., Mexico, Canada): [59:13, 121:11–128:30]
• Meta: Reporting risks, future expansion: [42:02 – 44:54, 150:33 – 154:48]
• Ryan Wedding case & international transnational crime: [137:48 – 149:06]

Conclusion

This episode delivers a devastating, highly detailed look at a new, monstrous cartel crime—forced surgical murder of pregnant women to traffic infants to U.S. buyers. Szulc breaks down not just the mechanics but the systemic failures, ethical horrors, and the international (especially American) complicity that perpetuates such crimes. It is a call for attention, outrage, and action—a must-listen for anyone seeking to understand the depths of contemporary organized crime and the ongoing battle for truth in investigative journalism.

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• Instagram, X, Substack (links provided in episode notes)
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