Wide range of criminal activity seen coming in from the border

On top of a 12-year high for illegal immigrant apprehensions, heroin and methamphetamine seizures at the border increased in fiscal year 2019 along the Texas border.

The Rio Grande Valley sector ranks first among cocaine and marijuana seizures. Methamphetamine has steadily increased since 2013. Methamphetamine and cocaine, both saw an increase during 2019, ranking as the second and third most confiscated drugs.

Tarleton State University, School of Criminology, Criminal Justice and Strategic Studies Associate Dean and Professor Dr. Alex del Carmen said when there's money involved, there's a level of control with access to people, resources and venues.

"These are millions of dollars worth of drugs being imported to the United States and therefore they have access to people, to buying people, buying components within the criminal justice system buying venues in which they can transport the drugs," said del Carmen.

He said there's a campaign to bring drugs, and the money associated with it, into the US at all costs.

"They typically bring violence, they bring illegal weapons, they bring human trafficking, so it's not just the drug itself, it's all the other crime that typically accompanies the drug, which is what concerns law enforcement," said del Carmen.


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