Mexican drug cartels are reaching into border-area schools to recruit new soldiers and killers, and Texas police officials are warning parents that those efforts could expand throughout the state, reports the Dallas Morning News. Steven McCraw of the Texas Department of Public Safety said the recruiting is done through gangs, and warned parents to be wary. “The concern is that the gangs are now being used by the cartels on both sides of the border for hit squads, human smuggling and countersurveillance,” he said.
Last year, youths from border counties accounted for 9 percent of the population in Texas, but 18 percent of the state’s felony drug charges and gang-related arrests. Dallas school officials meet weekly with police gang officers and other law enforcement agencies to share intelligence and compare notes.