Tag: Human Smuggling

Leader of Human Smuggling Organization that Held Illegal Immigrants in Phoenix Sentenced to Four Years Prison

Tom Pappert

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Friday the sentencing of a Phoenix man who led a human smuggling ring which moved illegal immigrants from Central America and held them in Arizona before driving them to destinations across the United States.

Tony Cardenas, a 36-year-old man from Phoenix, was sentenced to four years in prison and three years of supervised release earlier this month for his role as “the leader of a Phoenix-based human-smuggling operation” involving a total of at least 19 criminals, the DOJ announced. Cardenas is of no known relation to U.S. Representative Tony Cardenas (D-CA-29).

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Smart Phone Smuggling: Mexican Cartels Use Apps to Sneak Immigrants into U.S.

Just the News

As migrants pour into the U.S. illegally, Mexican cartels are using smartphones to facilitate their smuggling, making payments to drivers and manipulating the Customs and Border Protection app to get more people in.

The CBP One app allows entrants to the United States to schedule appointments to appear at U.S. ports of entry.

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Phoenix Woman Sentenced After Recruiting Arizonans to Smuggle Illegal Immigrants Using Social Media

Tom Pappert

A Phoenix woman became the latest Arizonan to be convicted and sentenced to prison for using social media to entice American citizens to participate in human smuggling of illegal immigrants, the Department of Justice (DOJ) revealed on Wednesday.

In a press release, the DOJ revealed Destiney Rae Montoya, a 22-year-old, was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison by United States District Judge Raner Collins. The prosecutors explained that Montoya’s sentence was enhanced due to her status as the “coordinator” of the human smuggling operation.

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Phoenix Teens Arrested After High Speed Chase as Police Warn Juveniles Increasingly Recruited for Human Smuggling

Tom Pappert
Flat tires after car chase

Two Phoenix teenagers were arrested in Cochise County last Thursday after police say they attempted to evade law enforcement at high speeds while smuggling illegal immigrants into the United States. Their arrests came just days after Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels warned more than 100 juveniles have been arrested after being recruited to participate in illegal human smuggling since April 2022.

The Cochise County Sheriff’s Office wrote on Facebook that the two minors arrested “were 14 and 15 years of age.” The teens allegedly refused to pull over for a routine traffic stop, and instead fled until “being stopped after tire deflation devices were employed.” Before they were forced to stop, the sheriff’s office claims the minors “reached speeds in excess of 124 miles per hour,” requiring a multi-agency response that included the Douglas Police Department and United States Border Patrol.

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Snapchat Used by Human Smugglers to Ensnare Arizonans in Illegal Immigration Schemes: Justice Department

Tom Pappert

The Department of Justice (DOJ) charged more than 20 individuals with using social media to entice Arizonans to participate in illegal human smuggling on Tuesday. The Justice Department highlighted an example of criminals using Snapchat, the multimedia instant messaging app, to promise to pay for Arizonans to help smuggle illegal immigrants into the United States.

The U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona filed 13 indictments containing 22 charges of Conspiracy to Transport Illegal Aliens for Profit against 22 individuals, alleging the smugglers “utilized social media, including Snapchat, to recruit” people in Arizona, before then generally switching to messaging applications like WhatsApp “to coordinate the logistics” of the crimes.

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Another U.S. Citizen Caught Smuggling Migrants Gets Sentenced to Prison

Neil Jones

Tucson resident Michael Lopez-Loreto, 22, has been sentenced by the U.S. District Court for conspiracy to transport illegal immigrants for profit and placing the life of a person in jeopardy.

According to a Tuesday release from the Arizona District of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Lopez-Loreto is going to jail for two-and-a-half years following an incident in January 2023. After receiving a call from a property owner reporting an unidentified car parked on their land, Border Patrol agents witnessed people running through the desert into Lopez-Loreto’s car. However, the group ran into agents blocking the road before he could make it far.

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Arizona District Attorney’s Office Charges Almost 2,000 Illegal Immigrants with Illegal Entry During First Three Months of 2023

Neil Jones

The Arizona District of the U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) released the first quarter of 2023 immigration enforcement statistics for individuals prosecuted in partnership with the Tucson and Yuma Sectors of Border Patrol.

“Reducing migrant smuggling and mitigating the risk to communities impacted by these offenses continues to be a priority for the Office and its law enforcement partners. Some of these prosecutions are directed against leaders and coordinators of alien smuggling organizations. Other prosecutions are aimed at deterring young adult drivers, often recruited over social media platforms, from engaging in this dangerous activity,” the District shared.

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Tucson Border Patrol Chief Warns Quick Cash Is Not Worth It as Human Smuggling Continues to Rise

Neil Jones

Tucson Sector Chief Board Patrol Agent John Modlin released a warning Monday that American citizens need to be wary of being recruited by criminal organizations to smuggle illegal immigrants across the border because any promises of quick cash do not erase the real punishments smugglers face.

“Criminal organizations will exploit anyone to do their dirty work,” Modlin shared. “Recognize the traps on social media. Don’t fall victim to false promises: Smuggling is a felony.”

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Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels Speaks in Washington on Southern Border Crisis Affect in Arizona

Neil Jones

Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels spoke at the US House Judiciary Committee’s Wednesday hearing on the southern border crisis, speaking on how his county has been affected by the ongoing issue.

“Our southern border, against all public comfort statements out of Washington D.C., is in the worst shape I have ever seen it,” Dannels said. “Communities have been neglected and abandoned, relying on our own local and state resources to address a border that is in crisis mode.”

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Former Arizona Border Patrol Agent Sentenced to Almost 13 Years for Firearm Distribution and Smuggling Narcotics

Neil Jones

The Arizona District of the Department of Justice revealed Tuesday that a former border patrol agent, Ramon Monreal-Rodriguez, 36, of Vail, Arizona, will be placed behind bars for 152 months for his role in two federal criminal cases.

“The men and women of the United States Border Patrol safeguard our frontier with compassion and dignity,” said United States Attorney Gary Restaino. “Most Border Patrol Agents are excellent public servants who diligently interdict contraband like guns and drugs. For those who aren’t and don’t, the Bureau of Prisons has plenty of room.”

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Suspected Human Smuggler Charged After Running Border Patrol Agent off Road

Peter D'Abrosca

A suspected human smuggler has been charged with serious crimes after he allegedly attempted to run a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agent off the road. 

“Last week, Daniel Jerome Wagner, 54, of Phoenix, Arizona, was arrested on one count of Assault on a Federal Officer with the Use of a Deadly or Dangerous Weapon,” said a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) press release. “Wagner was charged by criminal complaint and had his initial appearance on Friday before United States Magistrate Judge Eric J. Markovich.”

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CBP in Arizona Rescues Infant, Toddler ‘Left to Die’ in Sonoran Desert

Peter D'Abrosca

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said over the weekend that it rescued two young children who were “left to die” by human smugglers in the scorching Arizona desert. 

“Yesterday smugglers left an infant and a toddler in the Sonoran Desert to die. This is cruelty. And it is gut-wrenching. I commend our agents for their quick response to this dreadful incident and to every incident in which migrant lives are at stake,” CBP’s Chief Patrol Agent in the Tucson Sector John R. Modlin said. 

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Mexican National Pleads Guilty to Bribing CBP Agent, Human Smuggling Conspiracy

Peter D'Abrosca

A Mexican national has pleaded guilty in federal court for his role in a scheme to bribe a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for the purpose of smuggling illegal aliens into the country.

“Luis Alfredo Quintero-Gonzalez, 36, of Mexico, pleaded guilty on August 11, 2022, for Conspiracy to Commit Bribery and Alien Smuggling, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). “Evidence gathered during the investigation established that Quintero-Gonzalez paid former United States Border Patrol (USBP) agent Carlos Passapera thousands of dollars in cash bribes for smuggling undocumented noncitizens into the United States between August and December 2019.”

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Arizona Leaders Respond to CBP’s July Southern Border Encounter Statistics

Neil Jones

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recently shared the total number of encounters at the southern border in July, and several of Arizona’s leaders have spoken on the new numbers, including Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar (r-AZ-04).

“For the seventeenth straight month, more than 150,000 illegal aliens crossed the southern border including [nearly] 200,000 illegal aliens in July 2022. Since Biden and the open border democrats took over in January 2021, they have facilitated an invasion of our sovereign borders of more than 4.2 million illegal aliens. Included in this invasion are terrorists – over five dozen documented so far, drug traffickers, sex traffickers and common criminals,” Gosar said.

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Arizona CBP Seizes Cloned Fire Department Vehicle Used by Smugglers

Peter D'Abrosca

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in Arizona said Monday it confiscated a look-alike fire department vehicle that it suspects smugglers were using to traffic illegal aliens across the border.

“#ClonedVehicle seized by Douglas Station. Agents responded to a suspected vehicle incursion and encountered the abandoned SUV. Mormon Lake Fire Dist. decals were improperly labeled as ‘Mormon Like.’ Several individuals fled from the vehicle to Mexico before agents arrived,” said Tucson Sector Chief Patrol Agent John R. Modlin on Twitter. 

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Four Charged in Connection to Botched Smuggling Operation That Killed Dozens

Arizona Sun Times Staff
Handcuffs Arrest

Four individuals are charged in connection with a deadly human smuggling event in San Antonio, Texas, where dozens of migrants were found dead in a tractor trailer, the U.S. District Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas announced Wednesday.

Homero Zamorano Jr., 45, of Brownsville, Texas, was arrested Wednesday and charged with one count of alien smuggling resulting in death, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. Christian Martinez, 28, was arrested Tuesday in Palestine, Texas, and charged with one count of conspiracy to transport illegal aliens resulting in death.

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Arizona Attorney General’s Office Warns That Cartels Use Social Media to Recruit Teenagers in Smuggling Operations

Neil Jones

Monday, the Arizona Attorney General’s Office (AGO) released a press release stating the cartel recruits American Citizens, including teenagers, to smuggle undocumented immigrants into the country through social media.

“Ads on social media intercepted by law enforcement are now offering load drivers up to $2,000 for each passenger picked up at the border and driven north to a specified location. The lucrative deal is not only attracting people as young as 14 years old from the greater Phoenix area but also men and women of all ages and even drivers from out of state, who come to Arizona to cash in on the commute for the cartel. Nearly all of the drivers stopped are U.S. citizens,” according to a press release from the AGO.

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Drug Cartels Use Social Media to Lure American Teenagers into Human Trafficking

Admin

Dora Ortega knew her teenage son was hiding something when he arrived home at 2 a.m. He was wearing expensive new clothes that she knew he couldn’t afford with his warehouse job.

But it wasn’t until Ortega’s son finally admitted what he’d really been up to that she realized the gravity of the situation.

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Arizona Calls on Social Media Companies to Crack Down on Cartel Activity

The Center Square

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey is calling on social media companies to protect youth from cartels recruiting them into transnational human smuggling activity. 

In a letter to the leaders of four social media companies, Ducey urged the companies to start doing a better job of stopping people from being exploited by cartels.

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Arizona Governor Doug Ducey Signs Legislation Aimed at Human Smuggling Organizations

Cooper Moran

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey on Thursday signed legislation aimed at tackling human smuggling groups.

The bill, House Bill 2696, clarifies language to detail that “an individual who aids illegal human smuggling organizations or operations will be held accountable for their crime.”

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Arizona Man Pleads Guilty for Role in Human Smuggling Operation

Cooper Moran

A resident of Nogales, Arizona pleaded guilty for his role in a human smuggling operation that has helped dozens of individuals cross the border illegally.

The individual, Benjamin Gallegos, admitted to charges of conspiracy to transport and harbor illegal aliens for profit and could face up to ten years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000, according to a release from the Department of Justice.

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Tucson Border Patrol Arrests 19-Year-Old Human Smuggler

Peter D'Abrosca
On June 17, 2020, Tucson Sector Border Patrol Agents conduct operations at the Highway 86 checkpoint near Tucson, Ariz. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection photo by Jerry Glaser)

As the border crisis largely unabated due to a seemingly-disinterested White House, U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Tucson Sector continues its uphill battle to stop the illegal alien influx.

It reported Tuesday that it captured a teenage human smuggler attempting to enter the United States. 

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Human Smuggler Pulled over in Cloned Border Patrol Vehicle Near Tucson, Arizona

Peter D'Abrosca

In a creative attempt at smuggling illegal aliens into the United States, a driver was pulled over near Tucson in an SUV painted to replicate those driven by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). 

This is not a Border Patrol vehicle. [Homeland Security Investigation Phoenix] and [Border Patrol] agents from [Tucson] Station foiled a smuggling attempt using a cloned vehicle and a fake uniform. The driver and 10 migrants were taken into custody,” said Chief Patrol Agent of CBP’s Tucson Sector John R. Modlin on Twitter. 

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Arizona Border Patrol Arrests DACA Recipient in Human Smuggling Attempt

Peter D'Abrosca

A recipient of former President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program benefits was arrested by Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents Wednesday.

The suspect, a female citizen of El Salvador, along with a male counterpart who is a U.S. Citizen, were caught attempting to smuggle four Mexican nationals across the border illegally, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) press release said.

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