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Mexican Cartels Recruit San Diego Teens

Mexican drug cartels are turning to San Diego’s youth to function as drug mules, the Latin American Herald Tribune is reporting.

Eleven percent of the more than 5000 youths that have been incarcerated in San Diego (many of them Hispanics accused of being involved in street gangs) report being approached at some time or another to transport drugs across the border. The youths, who can more easily cross into Mexico and back without raising suspicion, begin transporting contraband at an average age of 14.

Pedro Rios, an activist who works with the San Diego office of the American Friends Service Committee, says South Bay high schools have become particularly fertile recruiting grounds for cartels.

“The traffickers pay them around $400 per trip carrying drugs, but we have also seen them get involved in human trafficking, generally picking the people up on this side of the border and taking them to safe houses,” Rios told the Herald Tribune.

Rios is pushing for an expansion of the Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act, a county law that was adopted in 2000 in response to rising crime rates among youth in the 1990s. He argues that prevention programs should especially be beefed up in the county’s southern regions, where teens are more likely to be targeted to transport drugs and potentially become addicts themselves.

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Mexican drug cartels are turning to San Diego’s youth to function as drug mules, the Latin American Herald Tribune is reporting.

Eleven percent of the more than 5000 youths that have been incarcerated in San Diego (many of them Hispanics accused of being involved in street gangs) report being approached at some time or another to transport drugs across the border. The youths, who can more easily cross into Mexico and back without raising suspicion, begin transporting contraband at an average age of 14.

Pedro Rios, an activist who works with the San Diego office of the American Friends Service Committee, says South Bay high schools have become particularly fertile recruiting grounds for cartels.

“The traffickers pay them around $400 per trip carrying drugs, but we have also seen them get involved in human trafficking, generally picking the people up on this side of the border and taking them to safe houses,” Rios told the Herald Tribune.

Rios is pushing for an expansion of the Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act, a county law that was adopted in 2000 in response to rising crime rates among youth in the 1990s. He argues that prevention programs should especially be beefed up in the county’s southern regions, where teens are more likely to be targeted to transport drugs and potentially become addicts themselves.

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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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