The number of US nationals caught trafficking drugs across the border has increased threefold between 2005 and 2011. That is the headline conclusion of research conducted by the California-based Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) which was published in late March. Though the report claims that these cases account for a large majority of the drug-trafficking busts, the data provided is inconclusive in this respect. Another claim — that the US Border Patrol (USBP) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have been playing down the role of US nationals — does seem proven, with caveats.
The CIR researchers examined USBP and CBP records of 81,621 seizures of drugs carried out along the Southwest border between 2005 and 2011, “obtained through the federal Freedom of Information Act, including records never before made public”. Of those cases in which the nationality of the smuggler was recorded, US citizens accounted for 60% of the total, and “more than two-thirds” in the specific cases of marijuana seizures of more than 454kgs.
Enter, at this point, two important caveats. First, in “nearly half” of the seizures the nationality of the smugglers is unknown, because they fled, leaving their consignments behind. This means that the reported percentages refer to “more than 40,000” seizures. Second, the report notes that “most busts” involving a US national are of amounts below the threshold at which they are considered drug trafficking — for example, one kilogram of marijuana. The report states that “Border Patrol agents mostly seize drugs in amounts large enough to be considered drug trafficking”, but does not specify the proportions, nor those of loads above 454kgs.
A CBP spokesman is cited as saying, “[The] bulk of people arrested are for personal possession amounts, not smuggling for resale. Anecdotally, we have US citizens who smuggle drugs, in large amounts sometimes [but the] majority of people involved in smuggling drugs are citizens of Mexico”.
The researchers examined “nearly 2,000” USBP and CBP press releases issued in the period under review and found that 38% mentioned that a Mexican national had been arrested, adding that “US citizens, meanwhile, were mentioned roughly 30% of the time, even though they represent a much higher percentage of those busted, according to the analysis. The remaining one-third of press releases did not include information on the nationality of those caught with drugs”. As with the broader breakdown of captures, there is a large gap in the data.
The report cites a CBP statement to the effect that it only issues news releases on significant or “otherwise noteworthy seizures” — mostly large consignment, unusual trafficking methods or concealment methods.
Over the past couple of years, the report notes, seizures in Tucson and the Rio Grande Valley in south Texas, accounted for “roughly 80%” of all marijuana interdicted countrywide. It also notes that in the Tucson area more “unauthorised migrants” than US citizens were caught smuggling.
An interesting aside is that “the number of immigrants illegally crossing the US-Mexico border has dropped to its lowest level in decades”, based on a Pew Research Hispanic Center study showing that USBP apprehensions had fallen from more than 1m in 2005 to 286,000 in 2011. The number of US nationals caught smuggling drugs, the report says, has increased every year from 2005 to 2010, followed by a “slight” decline in 2011.
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