Posted on Aug 9, 2023
Who is sneaking fentanyl across the southern border? Hint: it's not the migrants
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https://www.npr.org/2023/08/09/ [login to see] /fentanyl-smuggling-migrants-mexico-border-drugs
We know that illicit fentanyl is flowing into the U.S. from Mexico. Yet we rarely hear from the couriers who smuggle most of it through legal ports of entry. This is one of their stories.
Just before midnight on Aug. 4, 2021, Haley tried to cross the border from Mexico back into Arizona, where she lived. She was carrying 1,000 fentanyl pills inside her body.
"That was the first time I've ever done it," Haley says. "It was just a sudden decision that I made at the last moment."
At the time, Haley was struggling with addiction to methamphetamine. She'd lost her job during the COVID-19 pandemic and then lost custody of her three children. (Haley, 32, asked not to use her last name in order to protect her children's privacy.)
When a man she knew offered her a chance to make $500, Haley took it.
We know that illicit fentanyl is flowing into the U.S. from Mexico. Yet we rarely hear from the couriers who smuggle most of it through legal ports of entry. This is one of their stories.
Just before midnight on Aug. 4, 2021, Haley tried to cross the border from Mexico back into Arizona, where she lived. She was carrying 1,000 fentanyl pills inside her body.
"That was the first time I've ever done it," Haley says. "It was just a sudden decision that I made at the last moment."
At the time, Haley was struggling with addiction to methamphetamine. She'd lost her job during the COVID-19 pandemic and then lost custody of her three children. (Haley, 32, asked not to use her last name in order to protect her children's privacy.)
When a man she knew offered her a chance to make $500, Haley took it.
Who is sneaking fentanyl across the southern border? Hint: it's not the migrants
Posted from npr.org
Drugs
Substance Use
Mexico
Crime
Stories
Posted 9 mo ago
Responses: 4
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Far too much money to be made in the illicit drug business to ever stop it. We have to find another way.
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Lt Col Scott Shuttleworth
Stan...agreed. Legal ports or illegal crossing...its like putting a cork in a dyke leake...pressure will find another way in. Don't know what the other way is but there has to be. Do it like we used to do to pirates in the 1700's...catch you with fentalyl or other illicts we hang you on the fence for others to see. Morbid and immoral but I think anything short of that isn't gonna be a deterrent.
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MSG Stan Hutchison
Lt Col Scott Shuttleworth - Scott, the problem with your solution is it would only be the mules that get hung. The bosses would still be safe and continue to send other mules.
Drug abuse is a social problem. Providing those drugs is a criminal problem. As long as there is such a huge demand, there will be those taking advantage of that demand and making mega-$$$.
We must continue to interdict the shipments, but at the same time we must address the root causes.
Drug abuse is a social problem. Providing those drugs is a criminal problem. As long as there is such a huge demand, there will be those taking advantage of that demand and making mega-$$$.
We must continue to interdict the shipments, but at the same time we must address the root causes.
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Nobody Runs Forever. Clint Eastwood is #TheMule, in theaters December 14.http://www.facebook.com/TheMuleFilm/ http://twitter.com/TheMuleFilmhttp://www.insta...
This reminds me of the 2018 Clint Eastwood movie, "The Mule". It dramatized a true story of a decorated Korean War veteran who became a drug smuggler due to his failing flower business and family strain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_QksSzK7sI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_QksSzK7sI
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Couriers are often in "desperate straits"
Given those criteria, Haley wasn't a great choice to be a courier. "I don't go to Mexico. That's not something I do," she says.
When she presented herself at the port of entry in Nogales that night in 2021, the officer on duty asked what she was doing in Mexico and directed her to secondary inspection.
"I already knew, you know, I was caught. It was done," Haley says. "In my heart, I knew that I was doing wrong, you know? So, I started freaking out, and I kind of told on myself."
Haley was arrested and charged. She pleaded guilty and went to prison. There, she met lots of women who had carried drugs through the ports — some of them repeatedly.
"I've heard girls talk about, you know, I did it, I did it, I had it inside of me or, you know? And I'm just like, aren't you lucky? I got caught my first time," she says.
"People do it over and over again, because the money is so good," Haley says. "These girls are so used to their money amount, that's the life they want. That's the life they know."
Law enforcement officials say there is no shortage of people willing to do this work.
"A lot of it is driven, unfortunately, by addiction," says Gordon, the prosecutor in San Diego.
"You're looking at a population that attempts to cross the border into the United States carrying these drugs who are usually not being paid very much. Think of anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000 to drive a vehicle across," Gordon says. "Usually they're in very desperate straits."
"Typically, my clients have hit rock bottom," says Jessica Turk, a defense lawyer in Vail, Arizona, just outside of Tucson. Turk takes on clients who can't afford a private lawyer and who are often charged with smuggling drugs or people into the U.S. She says many of them are struggling with addiction.
"Their drug addiction has put them on the street, or they're living in a shed or they're living in a car," Turk says. "They need money to fuel an addiction. And this is an opportunity that regularly presents itself to people in this area."
Haley was recruited by an acquaintance, not a cartel. But in other ways, her story follows a similar arc.
By the time she made the decision to carry fentanyl across the border, her life was falling apart. Haley had been addicted to meth once before when she was younger. She got sober and stayed that way for nine years. She was living in Tucson with her children. But a few years ago, things took a turn."...
..."Couriers are often in "desperate straits"
Given those criteria, Haley wasn't a great choice to be a courier. "I don't go to Mexico. That's not something I do," she says.
When she presented herself at the port of entry in Nogales that night in 2021, the officer on duty asked what she was doing in Mexico and directed her to secondary inspection.
"I already knew, you know, I was caught. It was done," Haley says. "In my heart, I knew that I was doing wrong, you know? So, I started freaking out, and I kind of told on myself."
Haley was arrested and charged. She pleaded guilty and went to prison. There, she met lots of women who had carried drugs through the ports — some of them repeatedly.
"I've heard girls talk about, you know, I did it, I did it, I had it inside of me or, you know? And I'm just like, aren't you lucky? I got caught my first time," she says.
"People do it over and over again, because the money is so good," Haley says. "These girls are so used to their money amount, that's the life they want. That's the life they know."
Law enforcement officials say there is no shortage of people willing to do this work.
"A lot of it is driven, unfortunately, by addiction," says Gordon, the prosecutor in San Diego.
"You're looking at a population that attempts to cross the border into the United States carrying these drugs who are usually not being paid very much. Think of anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000 to drive a vehicle across," Gordon says. "Usually they're in very desperate straits."
"Typically, my clients have hit rock bottom," says Jessica Turk, a defense lawyer in Vail, Arizona, just outside of Tucson. Turk takes on clients who can't afford a private lawyer and who are often charged with smuggling drugs or people into the U.S. She says many of them are struggling with addiction.
"Their drug addiction has put them on the street, or they're living in a shed or they're living in a car," Turk says. "They need money to fuel an addiction. And this is an opportunity that regularly presents itself to people in this area."
Haley was recruited by an acquaintance, not a cartel. But in other ways, her story follows a similar arc.
By the time she made the decision to carry fentanyl across the border, her life was falling apart. Haley had been addicted to meth once before when she was younger. She got sober and stayed that way for nine years. She was living in Tucson with her children. But a few years ago, things took a turn."...
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