Despite our best efforts and constant drum beat by Members of Congress. including myself. to try to tighten Customs drug enforcement efforts. little progress has been made. Trucks are still getting through our ports of entry with their loads of illicit drugs concealed in cargo ranging from electronics components to vegetables. or in false compartments built into the trucks. For example. one of the largest cocaine seizures ever made in Californias Imperial County occurred last November when Border Patrol agents found 835 pounds of the drug concealed in a tractor trailer rig of Mexican registry at a highway checkpoint about 50 miles north of the border. (Source: U.S. Border Patrol.) The next month Border Patrol agents seized 474 pounds of marijuana in another truck of Mexican registry in Calexico. CA.. across the border from Mexicali. Mexico. (Source: U.S. Border Patrol) At the Otay Mesa Cargo Inspection facility. there have been 24 seizures within the last year of drugs found concealed in trucks and trailers. including those of two Line Release participants. (Source: information provided San Diego District Office by a Customs inspector.) And. in August of 1997. the New York Times News Service reported the following: For nearly a year. 18wheel trailer trucks. driven by experienced truckers recruited in Michigan. have been rolling north from the Mexican border to New York. delivering tons of concealed cocaine and marijuana and carrying back millions of dollars in illegal drug profits. Authorities said the trucks were dispatched by Mexicos most powerful drugtrafficking syndicate. once headed by the late Amado Carillo Fuentes. A parallel investigation discovered the smuggling of at least 1.5 tons of cocaine a month in crates of fruits and vegetables from Mexico. according to the New York Times Service article.
Identified stereotypes
Generalizing that Mexican trucks are used for drug smuggling.