EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Transnational criminal organizations often recruit young people on the U.S. side of the Mexican border to help them smuggle migrants and drugs – sometimes with tragic consequences.
Now, a congressman from New Mexico is bringing back two bills aiming to curb that trend through a federally funded public awareness campaign and increasing prison time for smugglers.
U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-New Mexico, says the No More Narcos Act (initially introduced in the 118th Congress) and the Stops Coyotes Act (which reached the House Subcommittee on Border Security in 2023) have bipartisan support. They were reintroduced recently.
“My bipartisan bills strengthen our ability to disrupt cartel activity, protect our kids from exploitation, and equip local law enforcement with the tools and coordination they need to keep communities safe,” said Vasquez, whose initiatives already have garnered support from some educators and law enforcement officials.
Cities like El Paso, in recent years, have witnessed tragedies involving young U.S. citizens allegedly hired by cartels to transport migrants. Recruitment through social media remained rampant during the migrant surges starting in the fall of 2018 through the summer of 2024. Incidents of cartel enforcers harassing American students who “didn’t do the job” also were documented.
“For too long, dangerous criminals have exploited our border crisis to traffic innocent children and smuggle deadly narcotics into our nation,” said co-sponsor U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas. “It’s time we finally put a stop to these predators and ensure law enforcement agencies have the information-sharing infrastructure to do their jobs efficiently and effectively.”
The No More Narcos Act calls for the Attorney General of the United States to establish a national strategy to combat cartel recruitment of American students. It proposes using money from the Department of Justice’s Forfeiture Fund to enact a national education campaign.
The Stop Coyotes Act – coyotes being slang for smugglers – calls for an additional 10 years in prison for individuals convicted of felony offenses involving a minor within 1,000 feet of schools, playgrounds, swimming pools, or public housing.
The chiefs of police in Las Cruces and Sunland Park, New Mexico, support the bills, as does the president of the American Federation of Teachers in the state.
“These bills strike the right balance between prevention, education, and enforcement, and they send a strong message that exploiting our kids or flooding our communities with fentanyl will not be tolerated,” Las Cruces Police Department Chief Jeremy Story said in a statement.
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