Claims about drug cartel in Elizabethtown have some truth, but are misleading [Lancaster Watchdog]

• By Jade Campos/LNP | LancasterOnline

For months now, an Elizabethtown school board member has insisted drug cartels are operating in the borough. Her claims are likely accurate, and they are also misleading.

In fact, experts say most American communities likely have street-level links to international drug cartels, and the vast majority of those low-level drug dealers are U.S. citizens.

Danielle Lindemuth, a Republican school board member in Elizabethtown Area School District, has claimed during multiple public meetings that cartel operatives live among the borough’s 12,000 residents. She has voiced the claim in support of symbolic “nonsanctuary” resolutions that have been adopted by several municipalities in Lancaster County, including Elizabethtown, reaffirming their commitment to cooperate with federal immigration officials.

These resolutions directly respond to Lancaster city’s February “Welcome City” ordinance that formalized existing city policy that bars city officials and employees, including police, from questioning a person’s immigration status without a legitimate reason. Jaime Arroyo, a City Council member who pushed for the policy adoption, has said the ordinance is meant to build trust between the city’s immigrant community and law enforcement.

Critics of the ordinance, including Lindemuth, claim it will only cause more problems for the wider community.

“Why would you want to have funding go to illegal people, people who chose to come here with zero documentation, zero vetting? Not knowing if they’re going to blow up another building, if they’re going to rape another woman, if they’re going to be a part of a drug cartel, which I can tell you is happening in Elizabethtown,” Lindemuth said during a March county commissioners’ meeting. “So to say that it is not happening in our area, in our county, I can tell you irrefutably that it is happening in our county.”

Lindemuth made similar claims during a recent Elizabethtown council meeting. She did not respond to multiple requests for comment from The Watchdog to elaborate on her claims.

Lancaster County District Attorney Heather Adams last week said there are not any active investigations related to Lindemuth’s assertions. In a follow up Tuesday, Adams said she could not comment on the status of a complaint or investigation. She encouraged anyone with information to contact the Drug Task Force at 717-299-3612.

“Residents should know that while Lancaster County is the third safest county in the state, drug trafficking does exist here,” Adams said in an email. “Lancaster’s large population and easily accessible location within southcentral Pennsylvania make it particularly susceptible to drug importation and drug activities and our DTF is well trained and equipped to address the threats from drug trafficking.”

Low-level offenders

Cartel operations take place throughout the country at various levels. Lancaster County is not immune, and it is hardly unique.

The word “cartel” can conjure images of heavy-handed drug bosses, when in fact many people who sell cartel drugs locally are street-level dealers — the little fish.

According to a 2024 report by the U.S. Department of Justice, the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels are the most dominant in the U.S. These cartels have global supply chain networks they rely on to deliver drugs to American communities. Cartel leaders have direct connections with people in major cities such as Los Angeles, Phoenix, Chicago, Houston, Atlanta and Miami.

“Thousands of cartel-linked drug dealers in the United States bring illicit fentanyl, methamphetamine and other drugs into American communities every day,” the report states. “They supply smaller networks of local independent drug trafficking groups, streets, crews and gangs whose main aim is to get the illegal drugs into the hands of users.”

Most fentanyl, meth or cocaine in the U.S. can be linked back to cartels, Adams said, though street-level drug dealers are far removed from that. The county’s Drug Task Force focuses on bigger dealers like local drug trafficking organizations and regional or multi-state trafficking organizations. Adams noted the task force has not seen any significant increase in complaints, investigations and arrests.

Some of the bigger fish do operate here, though. Last October, federal officials sentenced Dwayne Sherman, of Lancaster, to 22 years in prison for trafficking cocaine with a Mexican drug cartel. Sherman was caught in Los Angeles.

Local police departments are responsible for handling street-level drug dealing.

In a brief statement July 26, Elizabethtown Police Chief Derek Koch declined to comment specifically on Lindemuth’s claims, saying doing so could jeopardize future investigations.

“The release of sensitive, criminal intelligence information such as this could compromise any current or future investigations, so I cannot publicly comment on this topic, however, I want to reassure everyone that Elizabethtown Borough is a safe community, and residents can depend upon the Elizabethtown Police Department to swiftly and thoroughly investigate all claims of criminal activity,” the statement read.

Drugs and citizenship

Stacia Korman, communications manager for Lancaster city’s police bureau, told The Watchdog that officials anecdotally have not seen any major shifts in crime rates since the “Welcome City” ordinance was adopted in February.

Adams said the county has seen a “concerning amount of crime” committed by undocumented migrants in recent months generally. While she did not quantify any link between illegal activity and immigration status, Adams said the DA’s office is compiling information on the issue to address public safety concerns.

Some experts refute the suggestion that migrants are more likely to commit crimes than U.S. citizens.

Victor Romero, dean of Penn State Law and the School of International Affairs, specializes in immigration policy. He told an LNP reporter in March that undocumented migrants are more likely to obey laws because they don’t want to attract attention to themselves.

Moreover, a recent report from the U.S. Sentencing Commission shows that 82% of the people convicted of drug trafficking in 2023 were U.S. citizens. With respect to fentanyl, those numbers are even higher.

Fentanyl was responsible for 70% of drug-related deaths in the U.S. in 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That same year, according to the Sentencing Commission, 88% of the people convicted of fentanyl trafficking were U.S. citizens.

In Lancaster County specifically, many municipal officials have said they haven’t had problems with migrant people in their communities, leading some to decline consideration of “nonsanctuary” resolutions.

Notice any problems?

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