(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) Northern Border Patrol agents recently published a memorandum exposing a plague of marijuana farms owned by Chinese nationals in the state of Maine.
Maine law enforcement discovered 270 properties used for illegal marijuana growing. These farms had the potential to earn over $4 billion in revenue, according to the Daily Caller.
The Chinese owners either obtained resident status in the United States or claimed asylum, preventing law enforcement from deporting them.
“We think the Chinese are taking advantage of rural areas, like Maine, to produce marijuana to sell across state lines and funnel the profits back to China,” said a federal law enforcement officer who wished to remain anonymous.
Citizens of Maine legalized marijuana in 2016; selling recreational marijuana became legal shortly after in 2020. Under current law being skirted by Chinese illegals, Maine allows residents that are at least 21 years of age to grow as many as three mature plants and 12 immature plants for personal use.
In a recent bust in Bangor, Maine, investigators discovered a CCP-tied farm with 3,400 individual plants and 111 processed pounds of marijuana.
“There are hundreds of these operations occurring throughout the state. It’s upsetting to those who live near these operations, and even those who are following Maine laws and procedures,” said Penobscot County Sheriff Troy Morton.
Estimates indicated roughly 749 properties in Maine and Washington state had an association with China.
Chinese criminal organizations frequently partner with Mexican cartels in operations such as these.
“They take the cash from the cartels in America, and they buy these properties and they do these investments with cash from the Mexican cartels in our own country. This is part of their laundering scheme,” said former head of the DEA’s Special Ops Division, Derek Maltz.
Local officials often found that the instigators of the illegal pot farms were also illegal immigrants, often using Interstate 95—which starts in Miami, Florida and ends in New Brunswick, Maine—to transport contraband.
