(NewsReady.com) – A dirt road in a small farming town in Honduras’ Siria Valley might shock those who visit it for the first time. Mixed in with the huts and farms are ornate fences, nice cars, and mansions. According to a new report, those displays of wealth are being paid for by the pain of Americans.
For almost two years, The San Francisco Chronicle investigated the connection between drugs and Honduran migrants. They found that while most immigrants who settle in the Bay Area find jobs to support their families, hundreds contribute to America’s drug problem.
Police have arrested more than 200 Honduran migrants for drug dealing since 2022. Most of those dealers were from Siria Valley, many of whom are from the same small villages or families. Some of the 25 dealers interviewed by the paper said that they made more than $350,000 per year, and they sent some of the money back to the Valley, where it’s contributing to a real estate boom in the most unlikely of places. The drugs they’re selling are coming from Mexico, through the drug cartels.
Leydis Cruz, a drug dealer who was convicted of running a fentanyl trafficking ring in the area, said people in her hometown love San Francisco because “what gives money, is drugs.”
While the Honduran migrants are making money hand over fist, residents of San Francisco are dying. Fentanyl deaths in the city have surged. In the first five months of this year, there was more than a 40% spike in overdose deaths, with more than 346 people dying. In May, 74 people died of accidental overdoses alone. Almost 80% of those deaths are from fentanyl.
It should also be noted that California is a sanctuary state. That means that police don’t willingly cooperate with ICE officials. However, it’s not clear how much that has contributed to the drug dealing.
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