[ilbegone]

ICE warns students of deadly cartels

Union-Tribune Editorial

Teen smugglers
2:00 a.m. October 31, 2009

Times change, and not always for the better. In the 1980s, the government's message to young people who were thinking about taking drugs was: “Just say no.” Today, that seems old-fashioned. In San Diego County, the new message is just as likely to be: “Just avoid the drug smuggling business.”

What's happening to our world? High school students should be recruited by colleges, not drug dealers.

But, as reported this week by the Union-Tribune's Leslie Berestein, agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have begun paying visits to area high schools — such as Montgomery High School in South County — to warn students about the dangers of trying to earn a quick buck by working as couriers for drug traffickers. As the agents pointed out, these characters can be unsavory and ruthless employers who should be avoided at all costs. There are plenty of safer ways to earn extra money. Besides, even small-time drug smuggling is against the law. And the authorities will arrest, prosecute and incarcerate you for a very long time.

Not everyone is getting the message. In the last year, more than 50 youths aged 14 to 17 have been caught smuggling drugs — marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine — through the pedestrian lanes of the San Ysidro port of entry, sometimes for as little as $50 or $100 per trip. And it's not just happening here, as authorities at other ports of entry report similar arrests.

We commend the folks at ICE for making the effort. Outreach programs like this should be continued and expanded, and more high schools should volunteer to participate. Better for federal law enforcement agents to speak to students now about making the right choices than to make their acquaintance later under more formal circumstances.

Union-Tribune