AUSTIN (November 17, 2009)—Schools and communities across the state are becoming recruiting grounds for Mexican drug cartels and gangs that lure young people with cars and cash and promising they’ll face minimal sentences if caught, the Texas Department of Public Safety warned Tuesday.

The cartels are looking for new ways to smuggle drugs and humans into the state using Texas-based gangs and young people to support operations on both sides of the border, the DPS said.

The DPS cites the case of Laredo natives Gabriel Cardona and Rosalio Reta who were in their teenagers when they were recruited to be hit men for the Zetas, a group composed primarily of former Mexican military commandos, which originally served as the enforcement arm of the Gulf Cartel, but which now is a cartel itself.

Teenagers in El Paso have been recruited to smuggle drugs across the border, often in packs taped to their bodies, the DPS said.

Young people who live in border counties are the most susceptible, the DPS said.

“As these dangerous organizations seek to co-opt our children to support their criminal operations, it is more important than ever that parents be aware of these risks, talk to their children and pay attention to any signs that they may have become involved in illegal activities,” said DPS Director Steven C. McCraw.