PINAL COUNTY, Ariz. — "So you want to tell me where you're really coming from?" Pinal County Deputy Sheriff Williams asked the male driver he pulled over on Monday. The man, a U.S. citizen suspected of smuggling three illegal immigrants, initially told Williams he was driving with his wife, one cousin, and two coworkers back to Phoenix after doing work in a trailer park in Tucson.
Williams told the driver his wife told a different story about who the men in the backseat were and where they picked them up. Their story further unraveled when the would-be smugglers at first denied being drug users but a search of their car turned up drug paraphernalia. A Border Patrol agent later arrived at the scene and confirmed the three men were illegal immigrants.
Townhall Media/Julio Rosas
Williams, who has been on the force for 15 years with 12 of them being on the K-9 unit, said the constant flow of human smuggling on I-10 is at a level he has not seen since 2010, and even then the smuggling by vehicle was being done out in the desert.
"I don't believe the border is secure," said Williams, noting it will never be fully secured even with a wall but at least a wall does "slow" down the illegal traffic.
"With the wall that was being built [under Trump], we didn't see the influx of people that we see now," he added.
One main issue at the moment is there are "no consequences" for the U.S. citizens who are caught attempting to smuggle illegal immigrants in their cars, according to Williams. Drivers can be paid anywhere from $1,000 to $3,000 per head.
"They're being transported to Border Patrol. They'll process them, interview them, and kick them loose. They'll be out the door before they're even done processing the illegal immigrants," Williams said of the two would-be smugglers he had just caught. "We've seen [Border Patrol] interview them on the side of the road and kick 'em loose and just take the illegal immigrants."
The deputy's on-the-ground view of the ongoing border crisis is the same story I've heard from residents and local law enforcement by the border: While problems have always existed with human and narcotics smuggling, it has never been as bad as it is now. Like elsewhere along the southern border, Border Patrol's time and manpower have been stretched thin in Arizona.
Williams put it more bluntly: "It's a sh*tshow."
Unlike Texas, where large groups of family units and unaccompanied minors willingly give themselves up to Border Patrol after illegally crossing the border, most of the human smuggling in the Phoenix-Tucson area involves people who are trying to avoid being caught by law enforcement. That is because Title 42 still applies to single adults, at least on paper.
Once Border Patrol took over the scene, we stationed ourselves further up I-10 waiting for cars to pass by that gave red flags. Anything from windows being too tinted, the car being noticeably weighed down or being driven slower than the speed limit are some of the dead giveaways. In the case of the final SUV Williams and his partner pulled over, it was the human head that could be barely seen laying down in the backseat.
The driver, a female, at first claimed she picked up the group "on the side of the road" because they wanted a ride to Phoenix. She quickly gave up on that story after it was discovered she had been caught twice already trying to smuggle illegal immigrants. Inside were a total of seven illegal aliens. Two of them were laying down in the backseat with another laying down in the trunk.
Townhall Media/Julio Rosas
Border Patrol once again showed up to process the illegal immigrants and took the driver into custody. Williams guessed for every car with a load of illegal immigrants they manage to pull over, about ten smugglers are able to slip past.
Border Patrol did not return Townhall's request for comment in time for publication.
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