Like Rafael, many young smugglers are first-time offenders. One day last year, she told her mother she was going to Jurez to buy Christmas decorations. The girl finished probation early, completed community service and quickly got her life back together. Adult trafficking bosses, not juveniles, are the ones who ought to be punished, he said. I wouldn't doubt it if they'd send their own mother across the border with drugs.
Greed fuels the drug business.
Smuggling organizations target El Paso because it is one of the busiest of the Southwest border's 39 crossing points. About 70 percent of the teen traffickers arrested there are boys. We see a lot of kids with no criminal history and no real problems at home or at school. Probation officer Rosa Mara Aguirre said 28 of the 29 juveniles she currently supervises in Jurez were caught smuggling drugs. Teens found guilty of a felony drug offense in Texas must serve a minimum of one year in jail.