Tiny black specks on Mint leaves

Every mint plant I’ve ever gotten seems to get these- are they some kind of pest? I’ve tried several methods to deal with it over the years but my mint plants always end up scraggly and struggling with these no matter what I do. I’ve tried full cut backs, submerging the plant for a few hours (hoping to drown whatever it is), Growsafe pesticide, neem oil. This always comes back and I eventually give up on them and eventually just get a new plant once a year. I’ve tried googling but it’s never very clear to me what this is or how to treat it. It doesn’t seem like leaf burn? These are even plants bought in 3 different states/regions over the years. This latest one in a new state I moved to recently, to my dismay, just started dropping leaves and showing this stuff too. I love using mint for my favorite cocktails so anything I can do to keep her happy and vanquish these things??