No consequences for alleged human smuggler after Valley traffic stop

The high temperatures have not stopped people smuggling along the Arizona-Mexico border. In fact, federal agencies say it is increasing and that the majority of people smugglers are US citizens.

“The arrests of non-US citizens we made for alien smuggling are only about 10 to 20 percent of the total arrests we have made,” said Robert Bushell of the Tucson Border Guard.

Agent Bushell says US citizens smuggling people from the border was a constant topic even before the pandemic. He says the recruiting is done online.

“Smugglers, be they drug smugglers, people smugglers will do anything.”

People smugglers trying to get away with a federal crime are the top concern of agents like Bushell and Lon Wiegand of Homeland Security Investigations.

“Often large groups are placed in the back of trucks, and when the heat is over 115 degrees, the interior of these vehicles can be fatal,” said Wiegand.

Wiegand says that for smugglers people are a means of making a profit.

“Typically, people entering the United States from Mexico pay around $ 2,000. Now we’re seeing payments of more than $ 8,000 to $ 10,000, ”Wiegand said.

Ten thousand dollars is, in fact, the same amount the U.S. citizen who drove this vehicle confessed to being paid to transport 17 undocumented immigrants from Douglas to the Valley, according to the report by the DPS soldier who enforced traffic control.

In the same report, the soldier documented the use of “smell” to detect undocumented immigrants.

The driver was fired with only two traffic warnings despite admitting to be a potential people smuggler. Why?

On April 16, DPS said they had called Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol to report the 17 undocumented immigrants, but both authorities declined to respond.

Border Patrol said they referred the incident to ICE because of the distance from the border. However, ICE said they had told the police officer that they were unable to respond immediately, but when their officers arrived, the occupants of the vehicle had disappeared.

The police officer’s report does not say whether ICE was informed that the driver confessed to being a people smuggler. Nor does it say why the DPS’s own border strike force was not called in for support.

The task force was created six years ago by Governor Ducey to “deter, disrupt and smash transnational criminal organizations that cross the border to do business in our state”.

“I think it’s important to acknowledge that the attorney general has issued a statement authorizing strike forces to investigate violations of federal criminal law,” said Danny Ortega, a Phoenix civil rights attorney.

Ortega says calling the Border Strike Force during that traffic stop was the right move.

“In my opinion, that would have been the easiest thing for DPS if this person admitted the smuggling in exchange for payment.”

In a statement to ABC15, DPS said:

“The Border Strike Force was not called up because there was no reasonable suspicion or likely reason to arrest or arrest the driver for a crime under Arizona law. Further imprisonment of the driver would have violated the driver’s constitutional rights. “

Some may ask, isn’t this sending the wrong message to people smugglers?

“The way DPS has handled it sends the wrong message about how we deal with these smugglers, and clearly these smugglers must be handled from a criminal perspective, as opposed to the people who bring them, who are simply against violate civil law. no criminal law, ”said Ortega.

According to the records, the experienced people smuggler from this traffic control appeared in court in April for lack of insurance and for driving with a revoked driver’s license.