Look who’s calling (from Mexico): Gang members deported from the U.S.

In an insightful piece of reporting by the BBC’s Will Grant in an article on April 30, 2025, Americans may have been surprised to discover that the voices of call center personnel they hear for calls related to anything from election polling to customer satisfaction surveys are coming from Mexican call centers staffed by ex-gang members deported from the United States.

The call centers, one of which was founded by a deportee, can employ over 500 agents, most of whom are deportees. A background check (screening) is not performed. What’s needed, says one call center’s chief happiness officer, is fluent English and Spanish language skills and a dedicated work ethic. The call recipient in the U.S. has no idea that they are receiving a call from Mexico from a likely ex-gang member deported from the U.S.    

The call center agents work through their lists of U.S. telephone numbers. The calls they make can be related to sales promotions, debt collection, or refinancing. It seems almost certain that these call centers are performing an outsourced service for U.S. corporations. In all of the tariff turmoil of last year, I noticed that outsourced services was something that seemed to escape tariff targeting.

The call centers also serve a humanitarian role, helping deportees with the culture shock of being in a new country, find redemption for the errors of their past lives, build familiar relationships with others in similar situations, and provide a steady paycheck.     

Rather than returning to Mexico to continue a life of crime, these deportees are finding a new way of making a living through involvement and contribution. For some, their unfortunate mistakes early in life cost them dearly but they are discovering that they can be on a better path later in life.  Earning an honest paycheck—and sometimes a bonus—in a supportive environment is giving these individuals a chance for rehabilitation. They will realistically never return to the U.S., but they can make a better life for themselves and for their community where they are in Mexico now that they are better people.    

This news story just goes to prove that outsourced services are varied and everywhere. So, the next time you get a sales call you don’t want, it’s okay to reject it, but think twice about the person on the other end of the telephone line: that person may be someone who is on the long road to turning their life around.     

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