DON'T TRY SMUGGLING DRUGS, FEDERAL AGENTS TELL STUDENTS

SOUTH COUNTY -- Not long ago, the anti-drug message from the
government to teens was just say no to taking drugs. These days in
San Diego County, kids are learning to just say no to smuggling drugs.

Yesterday, a stream of students shuffled into the gym at Montgomery
High School in South County, clambering onto the bleachers as if
attending a pep rally. They were there to listen to agents from U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement warn them about the dangers of
being recruited to work as drug mules.

From Oct. 1 of last year to the end of September, 54 youths from 14
to 17 were caught smuggling marijuana, methamphetamine, heroin and
cocaine through the pedestrian lanes of the San Ysidro port of entry,
the drugs taped to their bodies. Only one teen was caught doing this
during the same period the previous year. Arrests of teens for drug
smuggling were up at other California ports of entry as well, according to ICE.

Montgomery High is one of several South Bay high schools in which ICE
officials have been doing outreach since May. According to the
agency, schools in this region have been hit hardest by recruiters
for drug traffickers, who approach teens who are U.S. citizens or
legal residents and offer them money to smuggle.

"Let me tell you, you are not prepared to deal with people in the
drug trade," Jose Garcia, deputy special agent in charge of ICE in
San Diego, told the students. "You are not smart enough, mean enough
or evil enough ... you have not lived life that long."

Students were warned of the penalties and shown slides of teens who
had been caught smuggling bundles of drugs taped around their waists,
thighs or ankles. Even those who were minors were prosecuted under
state law, served time in juvenile facilities and were given
probation; teens who were legal residents, but not citizens, were deported.

Juveniles can be prosecuted in federal court for some crimes,
including drug offenses, but the bar is high. The U.S. Attorney's
Office said several criteria must be met, including that the state
does not have jurisdiction, or refuses jurisdiction. The offense must
be a felony crime of violence, a controlled substance violation or a
firearms offense.

As a result, state charges are more common. A statute also grants
state courts authority to declare a minor who has violated federal
law, including laws against immigrant smuggling, a ward of the court
subject to juvenile detention.

Smuggling organizations have long recruited minors. In El Centro, a
boy is standing trial for second-degree murder after he was accused
of crashing a van loaded with illegal immigrants into a canal last
year, killing six people. He is believed to have been 15 at the time,
too young for a driver's license.

Teens have also been recruited in the past to smuggle drugs, but the
recent escalation along the California-Mexico border has prompted
concern from federal officials, who are working with many schools to
stage presentations. ICE officials have even done student outreach at
a local middle school.

"This is an unfortunate part of what goes on, especially in this
community," said Manuel Rubio, grants manager for Sweetwater Union
High School District, which is working with ICE to make presentations
at other schools. "I'm glad we are bringing it to light now."

The appeal for youths who are recruited is the idea of easy money,
along with a sense of thug-life glamour, said Garcia of ICE. But
payments are fairly low, with a young drug courier perhaps getting
$50 to $200 to smuggle drugs taped to his or her body, he said.

After the presentation, one teen said she has overheard some students
bragging about earning money illegally by selling fireworks, or
indicating with a gesture -- fingers to the lips, holding an
invisible joint -- that they sell pot.

"I think that it's stupid, the fact that people do this at all to get
money," said Ana Niebla, 15. "There are some better things to do,
like get a job."