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.
Police say the teens were charged with multiple crimes, “including Human Smuggling,” and Dannels credited those involved for stopping the suspects “before any of our citizens were injured.”
Just days prior to the incident, Dannels told CBS News that cartels are increasingly recruiting minors to smuggle illegal immigrants into the United States.
“We have over a hundred juveniles in the last 18 months that we’ve apprehended in this county smuggling, all the way to the age of 13 and 12 years of age down here, driving grandma’s car, a friend’s car, or mom and dad’s car down here, and it’s social media,” Dannels told the outlet. Deputy Chris Oletsky added that the use of social media to recruit minors has become “Uber for the cartels.”
Prior to the October 12 arrests, Dannels told CBS News he’s received little support from Congress, lamenting that he has “testified in front of Congress” and “met with anybody that’ll listen to us” without aid or solutions.
In August, the Department of Justice (DOJ) charged more than 20 individuals for using social media to entice Arizonans to participate in illegal human smuggling, specifically identifying social media and messaging platforms Snapchat and WhatsApp in a press release.
One advertisement shown by the DOJ included a smuggler’s promise that “everything is secure,” and a second promised to pay as much as $20,000 for “a few hours of driving or sending me a person who can drive.”
In February, when Dannels last spoke to Congress, he warned the “southern border, against all public comfort statements out of Washington, D.C., is in the worst shape I have ever seen it” and said “communities have been neglected and abandoned” by the federal government, and thus left to rely “on our own local and state resources to address a border that is in crisis mode.”
Cochise County contains about 6,200 square miles of land, and includes 83 miles of the United States’ border with Mexico.
– – –
Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Georgia Star News and a reporter for the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Cochise County Sheriff Car Chase End” by Cochise County Sheriff’s Department.
