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Podcasts Take Two
Border counties struggle to prosecute drug offenses due to budget cuts
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Jun 20, 2013
Listen • 6:15
Border counties struggle to prosecute drug offenses due to budget cuts
Due to budget cuts, it's become increasingly common for small-scale drug smugglers to be let go without facing charges.
Forensic personnel prepare about 400kg of cocaine to be burnt in Tegucigalpa on May 11, 2012. The drug was seized this week in a joint operation, between the Police and the Army in La Mosquita, on the border with Nicaragua.
Forensic personnel prepare about 400kg of cocaine to be burnt in Tegucigalpa on May 11, 2012. The drug was seized this week in a joint operation, between the Police and the Army in La Mosquita, on the border with Nicaragua.
(
ORLANDO SIERRA/AFP/Getty Images
)

Due to budget cuts, it's become increasingly common for small-scale drug smugglers to be let go without facing charges.

Securing the border is not just a major issue in the immigration debate, it also plays a big part in federal efforts to stop the flow of illegal drugs. In the last year alone border patrol agents seized more than 300,000 pounds of drugs at border check points.

But not all the offenders are being prosecuted for their crimes. Due to budget cuts, it's become increasingly common for small-scale drug smugglers to be let go without facing charges.

Reporter Andrew Becker, who has written about this phenomenon for the Center for Investigative Reporting, joins the show to explain.