A Reason to Celebrate!

Cartels use young U.S. citizens to smuggle fentanyl

Contrary to the rhetoric surrounding how fentanyl enters the country, Mexican drug cartels are using U.S. citizens, not migrants, to smuggle the drug across the border. And they are increasingly recruiting college, and even high school, students, paying them a few hundred dollars or enticing them with a new smartphone. They focus on finding young people who regularly cross the border legally, have no criminal history, and are potentially struggling financially. They have also been using unsuspecting people, who Border Patrol agents call blind mules, placing GPS trackers and the drugs somewhere on their vehicles without their knowledge. Fentanyl is ideal for this type of smuggling because a small amount of the drug turns big profits.

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data, over 90% of drugs are seized at ports of entry and more than 86% of people charged with smuggling fentanyl are U.S. citizens. An outreach program to colleges and high schools around San Diego, CA is warning students of the dangers and consequences associated with smuggling fentanyl, both to themselves as smugglers and to those who use the drug.

Celebrating Constitution Day and Citizenship Day

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) celebrates Constitution Day and Citizenship Day each year by holding naturalization ceremonies throughout Constitution Week, which falls on Sept. 14-23 this year. More than 17,000 newcomers are being welcomed in ceremonies around the country over the next several days.

Some of the celebrations that have already taken place include one in Kansas City, MO where 616 people took the oath of citizenship last Thursday, and one in Hamilton, OH where people representing more than 30 countries took the oath on Tuesday.

Written by Jenifer Wellman, our Advocacy Director at We Choose Welcome.