Border agents apprehended a 16-year-old boy who used a remote-controlled car to transport methamphetamine across the border.
Credit: @naijnews / Twitter
On Nov. 17, at about 12:30 a.m., agents noticed a person with two duffel bags. U.S. Customs and Border Protection reports that agents followed the individual and discovered that he was a teenager and was also in possession of meth and a remote-controlled car. But how much can a toy car carry anyway? It is tiny, after all.
Agents reportedly detained 50 packages of methamphetamine or about 55.84 pounds of meth that has an estimated street value of $106,096.
Credit: @kamrlocal4news / Twitter
It wasn’t that long ago that tunnels were discovered at the U.S.-Mexico border and were believed to be used for drug trafficking into the U.S. The arrest by CBP shows the extent and complexity of which drugs are getting across the U.S.-Mexico border. The teenager was able to fit the drug on the remote control car because he had altered the car by removing the top. The drugs fit on the undercarriage of the car to be transported in and out of the U.S. and Mexico on what looks more like a remote control skateboard.
It’s hard to think that this teenage boy was acting alone on either side of the border. His identity has not been revealed since he is underage.
Credit: @hmuller61 / Twitter
The teen was arrested in San Diego, so someone was clearly on one side bringing the meth to the toy car while the boy waited on the other side. But the report doesn’t specify if the kid was transporting the meth to Mexico or bringing meth into the U.S.
San Diego Sector Chief Patrol Agent Douglas Harrison stated, “I am extremely proud of the agents’ heightened vigilance and hard work in stopping this unusual smuggling scheme.”
People on social media gave the kid props for using his clever skills of using a remote-controlled car.
Others chastised the kid for not thinking things through all the way. “Well, he got caught so he’s not that smart.” Others pointed out the inventive way this kid beat the so-called wall system that President Donald Trump wants to implement, “But isn’t the wall stopping all the drugs coming in!!”
This is not the first time border agents have detained people of transporting drugs through inventive means.
Credit: @GinaAHarkins / Twitter
In 2017, another San Diego male, this time a 25-year-old used a drone to transport several pounds of methamphetamine across the border. According to a press release by CBP Public Affairs, “An agent on an all-terrain vehicle spotted a male suspect at about 11:40 p.m. near the border at Servano Avenue and Valentino Street. The agent approached the man and discovered that he possessed a large open bag that had multiple plastic-wrapped packages containing methamphetamine. After the agent arrested the man, a search of the immediate area was conducted, leading to the discovery of a drone that was concealed under a bush. The drone was approximately two feet in height.”
In that drug bust, the amount the smuggler was caught with 13.44 pounds, which has an estimated street value of $46,000. So that’s only a fraction of what the teen boy had obtained.
While some may speculate this issue is proof that the United States needs a stronger border, people will find ways to transport drugs. Until both the U.S. and the Mexico governments address that their drug problem is everyone’s problem none of these issues will ever end.
In what was supposedly a giant drug bust by the Texas Department of Public Safety, led to one giant 3,350-pound mistake.
On Dec. 6, a DPS trooper pulled over and arrested a driver who the agency claimed was carrying multiple boxes that held pounds of marijuana east of Amarillo, Texas along Interstate 40. The trooper called for more backup in the form of DEA agents who thought they had the drug bust of all drug busts. They even took to Facebook to post about the incident that showed that showed dozens of boxes, supposedly stuffed with over 3,000 pounds of marijuana, in front of the U-Haul trailer stopped by authorities.
The culprit, Florida resident Aneudy Gonzalez, 39, a contract driver who was making a cross country trip from San Jose, California, to New York City. Gonzalez was pulled over by the trooper after he was seen driving on the highway shoulder and that’s when things started getting south.
1/ A man driving through Texas was arrested for hauling what @TxDPS claimed was 3,350 pounds of marijuana.
After he spent a month in jail, lab results indicated it was legal hemp. https://t.co/BxkKJDsKm2
Gonzalez was being paid to transport the boxes that the DPS trooper smelled upon inspecting the cargo in the trailer. He suspected it was marijuana after he found pounds of the “green leafy substance” in boxes and black trash bags.
The boxes, however, didn’t have marijuana in them. Gonzalez was being paid $2,500 to transport boxes of legal hemp from a California farm to a New York company. Yet even after he showed the trooper a lab report that verified the cargo met the state’s new legal definition of hemp, he was still charged with federal drug trafficking charges and placed in jail.
According to the Texas Tribune, A DEA agent testified as being unaware of the state law and was confused by the THC content rules.
3,350 Pounds of Hemp Seized From U-Haul Was Mistaken for Marijuana
"Aneudy Gonzalez spent a month in the custody of U.S. Marshals before his felony marijuana possession charge was dismissed." He had papers with the full test results.. not enough#Cannabishttps://t.co/R4CvvhpJzo
— Cannabis Seed Bank of ME • R&D (@SeedBankME) January 4, 2020
The root of all of this confusion stems from the recently passed HB 1325 that was signed into law by Gov. Abbott in June 2019. The law legalized the cultivation and processing of industrial hemp, as well as allowing farmers to grow industrial hemp under a state-regulated program in Texas. According to the Texas Tribune, “any cannabis with less than that amount of THC is hemp, which is used in products like clothing, twine, protein powder, and CBD oil.”
This is where authorities made the big mistake in not only arresting Gonzalez but also breaking state policy in interfering “with the interstate commerce of hemp”, which is exactly what happened here. According to Gonzalez’s attorney, Adam Tisdell, a cannabis criminal defense lawyer, the lab report that was shown to the trooper was more than enough evidence to let his client go.
“Especially in a time right now of immense skepticism of law enforcement, the idea that Texas DPS and ultimately, a DEA task force agent, would have no idea what the law is and people go to jail that are completely innocent is horrifying to me and I do believe it should be for the other citizens as well. That’s the moral of this story.” Daniel Mehler, another attorney representing Gonzalez with Tisdell, told KCBD.
It took an entire month for Gonzalez to finally be released from jail after authorities finally dismissed the case. He intends to file legal action and sue for violation of his civil rights.
7/ Officials have been working on a new testing method that will help distinguish between hemp and marijuana. @TxDPS has said it should be ready for criminal case testing early this year. https://t.co/luEKTczEOM
DPS officials issued a statement that read that the trooper that arrested Gonzalez believed that he was indeed carrying marijuana, not hemp. The agency would then send the confiscated material to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to test for THC levels. The results showed that Gonzalez was indeed carrying hemp and was in compliance with federal law.
“I was just doing my job and the government threw me in jail for almost a month. I fully intend on pursuing justice, whatever that entails,” Gonzalez told Law 360. “Nobody has apologized to me. Somebody owes me an apology.”
After the test results, federal prosecutors asked a judge a month later to dismiss the case, and Gonzalez was released from jail on Jan. 2, a month after being arrested. That sad part for Gonzalez was that this wasn’t the first time he had been arrested on the trip. He spent a night in jail in Arizona after authorities there also confused his cargo for marijuana. He was eventually released the next day after officials determined it was legal hemp.
Gonzalez’s case is an example of potential problems that law enforcement may face as hemp legalization spreads across the country, with many not knowing the difference between it and marijuana. In return, Texas has seen a major drop in marijuana prosecutions since hemp became legal. Gonzalez’s lawyer says that police need to be more aware of these new laws and be able to differentiate between the two to avoid situations like this in the future.
“Today we beat the feds,” Mehler Cannabis, the law firm defending Gonzalez that specializes in marijuana-related laws and litigation, wrote in a Facebook post. “We maintained from the word ‘go’ that all he had was hemp, and this morning the U.S. government moved to dismiss the charges against our client.”
The law firm is seeking the return of the property that was taken from Gonzalez and “just compensation for our client losing a month of his life in the custody.”
It was a normal day at her New Mexico bookstore when author Denise Chávez was approached by a customer who needed help finding Spanish-English dictionaries. As is common in life, asking questions is what generates the most change, and the customer’s answer to her question of “Why?” sparked an idea. The customer wanted to help out the migrants who were passing through and finding refuge at the Peace Lutheran Church respite center. Understanding language as the vital life source to forming social bonds, communities, and basic navigation in society, Chávez decided to go a step further. In May 2019, Chávez started bringing bilingual storybooks to the Peace Lutheran Church shelter. Soon, word got around and she began to expand the project, initiating a soul-nourishing project called “Libros Para El Viaje” or books for the journey.
Chávez’s book drive has been promoted and supported by various bookstores across the country, including national nonprofit, the American Booksellers Association (ABA). Since then, Chávez has hand-delivered thousands of books to migrants on both sides of the border, offering the gift of exploring unknown worlds from the unacceptable confines of a tent, detention center or hiding.
Meet Denise Chávez.
CREDIT: @BOOKSELLERSOFAMERICA / INSTAGRAM
Chávez grew up in the border community of Las Cruces, New Mexico, the daughter of a teacher and a lawyer. “I was just inculcated from the very beginning with books, books, books,” Chávez shared her story on social media. “Growing up as a Chicana close to the Mexican border, my stories came to me in many languages, including Spanish, Spanglish, border language… I was filled with the beauty of spoken words. And I’ve always loved books,” she shared on Booksellers of America’s featured bookseller post. “Bookselling means more to me every day,” Chávez shared on her experience of owning Casa Camino Real Bookstore, which serves as a community center and art gallery honoring border culture. “The stories of connecting, the people who come in—booksellers attract all sorts of people. To sell a book or to give a book away is a profound experience,” she added.
Chávez sees proof every week that giving a migrant a book is “a major healing experience.”
CREDIT: @RIVERDOGBOOKCO / INSTAGRAM
Libros Para El Viaje’s success is, in large part, thanks to Chávez’s presentation at an ABA conference that garnered national attention from booksellers. ABA has promoted her project, which has spurred many other community projects to help fund Libros Para El Viaje. For example, Minneapolis booksellers Red Balloon Book and Wild Rumpus created “Books for Border Kids” to host a two-month book drive. Those two independent booksellers alone sent over 3,000 book donations to Chávez in Las Cruces, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.
“Every week, I distribute books in Spanish to families and children,” Chávez shared on social media. “So my work has deepened because we’re reaching out to people who arrive with nothing. To get a book means something. It’s a major healing experience. So when I see a tiny, little woman—and I wish people in the United States could see the people that stand in front of me with those ankle bracelets; they’re small people, they wouldn’t hurt anybody—I try to remember her face. She is on a journey. She’s going on a bus. She’s going on a plane. And she’s taking a book for the journey. I mean, wow! Right?”
“Books can heal us,” Chávez believes.
CREDIT: DENISE CHÁVEZ / FACEBOOK
Whether it’s a Guatemalan teenager looking for a Stephen King novel or seeing the beauty in a mother “hugging three Isabel Allende books,” Chávez has found healing in her project. Whether “somebody is picking up a Spanish language version of H.G. Wells’ A WAR OF THE WORLDS. Or to give a dictionary to an older man who’s learning English. It’s exciting. This is truly being connected with what a book does, which is to inform, empower, enlighten,” she testified in a social media post. “My reason to be a writer is because I have been healed by books, and I do believe that books can heal us. It is a challenge to be a bookstore, but I continue because I know the power of a book,” Chávez attests.
