Mexican Cartels Using Arizona Children [UNDER 12] to Smuggle Drugs and Weapons

American children as young as 12 years old are being hired by cartels to smuggle drugs and weapons reports Fox News. “It’s a problem, we know it’s there,” said Tucson Sector Border Patrol agent Alan Regalado. “We’re trying to mitigate that issue through education and prevention.”

“These teenagers are either smuggling in vehicles, they're smuggling on their body and in their body, so it's very dangerous,” he added.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection said that in fiscal year 2018, there were 36 children arrested for narcotics at Arizona’s ports of entry. In fiscal year 2019, the number rose to 57. So far in fiscal year 2020, which started in October, there’s been 17 arrests.

Mexican cartels recruit Arizona children as young as 12 to smuggle drugs https://t.co/D3HX8T0YtZ

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Regalado noticed the increasing number and decided to start the T.E.A.M. Kids (Together Educating and Mentoring Kids) program to warn students about border recruiters. They soon noticed the need to implement the program as early as elementary school. “We went out to local high schools and I noticed that students were already recruited at that point,” Regalado said.

Schools across the Southwest already have programs such as Operation Detour, which is taught in middle and high schools, and the D.A.R.E. program – both of which try to combat violence and substance abuse. However, Regalado said it is crucial to start his program earlier on in a child's life.

“There’s kids now being recruited in Phoenix, Tucson, not only for northbound activity but also southbound, where they are taking weapons from the United States into Mexico, so it’s not just the narcotics coming from Mexico into the United States,” said Regalado.