A driver in a red Toyota Corolla with a California license plate speeds up to 100 mph after spotting a U.S. Border Patrol vehicle along the westbound lane of Interstate 10 approaching Benson. raised.
Border Patrol, Arizona Department of Public Safety, and Cochise County Sheriff’s Deputy continued surveillance after a red vehicle fled from immigration checkpoints north of Douglas on the evening of February 11.
The driver was identified as 21-year-old Jairo Castro Guzman, and by the time he reached mile post 312, a county lieutenant had joined in pursuit.
Castro Guzman increased speed to 113 mph. He was heading to a tire deflation device set by DPS. Castro Guzman turned right to get around other cars as he approached slowing traffic. He hit a tractor-trailer, turned 180 degrees, and hit the trailer a second time before coming to a stop.
Castro Guzman was largely unharmed, but authorities said he was transporting two illegally entering men and two women in his Corolla. Three of his mobiles were partially ejected from the Corolla’s trunk. Two were unconscious and a third was holding his leg in pain due to a possible fracture.
Three migrants, partially discharged from the trunk, were airlifted to a hospital in Tucson. One of them died a few days later. The sheriff’s deputy took Castro Guzman into custody.
Incidents of this sort are no longer uncommon in Cochise County.
A week before Castro Guzman crashed his car near Benson, another driver speedily chased an officer along Interstate 10 near Wilcox on February 5. The driver was carrying 10 illegal immigrants. Three Guatemalan migrants died at the scene after the driver lost control of the vehicle after the DPS deployed a tire deflation device.
“That’s our new cultural norm,” said Cochise County Sheriff Mark Danells, lamenting that his agents are frequently involved in high-speed pursuits that are easily deadly. .
“They are deadly in that they only have a fraction of a second to kill civilians and officials,” he added.
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Dunnells and his agency are at the forefront of changing smuggling patterns along the U.S.-Mexico border. The current pattern is that young drivers are recruited on social media and paid thousands of dollars to drive to the border, pick up unauthorized immigrants, and transport them to Phoenix and other big cities.
These smuggling attempts are dangerous and are made more dangerous as young, inexperienced drivers lead cops in high-speed pursuits that can result in serious injury or death.
Castro Guzman faces 16 counts in connection with a rollover accident in which three migrants were seriously injured and one died. The charges include wrongful escape from law enforcement and a new state charge that allows local agencies in Cochise County to prosecute those who participated in human smuggling.
The new law came into force in September. Amended Arizona Amendment Law 13-2323 to make it easier to accuse drivers of people smuggling if they try to hide immigrants from police. It also makes attempted smuggling a Class 2 felony and mandates a prison sentence with no possibility of suspension or reduction.
Cochise County Attorney Brian McIntyre said, “It gives us the tools to actually stop and intercept vehicles before an air event. There are benefits to trying to discourage them,” he said.
Several factors have made Cochise County a focal point for smuggling tactics, making it more dangerous, according to law enforcement experts.
The area is mostly rural and sometimes remote. There are no large cities on either side of the Arizona-Mexico border. The county consists of rolling ranches interspersed with long mountain ranges that form wide valleys. A network of interstate highways cuts through the valley, connecting small communities along the border with Interstate 10.
The network makes it easier for smuggling groups to dispatch drivers to pick up migrants smuggled across borders. As COVID-19 restrictions tightened controls at the U.S.-Mexico border, Cochise County saw more people illegally cross the border and try to avoid detection by border agents. became.
For some time after the pandemic began, border patrol north-facing checkpoints along national highways remained closed.
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Checkpoints have since reopened, making it more difficult for these drivers to evade detection, Howard Block said. He is an Assistant Special Agent in charge of Douglas for U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, a subdivision of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service tasked with investigating cross-border crime.
“There’s a good chance you can get away with it if you don’t see it and drive halfway smart,” Block said. “Now we have checkpoints. At the border level, almost all roads leaving our area are guarded by checkpoints. That becomes a problem, which obviously makes it a little bit more difficult.”
The harder it gets, the deadlier it gets. Immigrant deaths in Cochise County have surged since 2020, according to the Pima County Coroner’s Office, which also tracks deaths in Cochise. Many of them have occurred during high-speed pursuits ending in car crashes. In the past month alone he has had four immigrants die.
“They weren’t signed up to be exposed to what these organizations are exposing,” Block said. Even, climb into the trunk of a car, drive 110 miles per hour, and hopefully not be killed in an accident.” ”
In 2022, the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office launched the Safe Streets Task Force to address this issue, especially its safety implications for county residents. Robert Watkins, who oversees the command task force, said the office averages about two to 10 chases each day.
Before changes to state law on people smuggling went into effect in September, lawmakers could not stop immigrants unless their drivers sped up to chase them. Because it is a federal responsibility.
During the legislative session last year, Rep. Leo Biasiucci of R Lake Havasu City introduced House Bill 2696. The bill was signed into law by then-Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, amending state law to increase penalties for smuggling people. More importantly, we’ve added language that makes it easier to tie the driver to the smuggling attempt, rather than the smuggling network. It also made hiding immigrants from the police a national crime.
“If you hide someone in the trunk, right? That’s against the law,” Watkins said. “This is a second-degree felony, so now that law allows us to step into the larger criminal network.”
Lawmakers and other local law enforcement agencies are also coordinating with Douglas’ homeland security investigation. HSI agents are cross-represented to enforce new state laws. While most of their investigations have been left to federal prosecutors, they’re also working with Cochise County attorneys, sometimes tracking down Phoenix drivers and sending them back so they can be prosecuted under new state law. .
In the first four months after the change went into effect, Cochise County Sheriff’s Office agents arrested and charged 139 people under the changed law. That number may be much higher now, but the office lost access to the Arizona National Guard who helped track that data. I would like to learn more about ranges.
County attorney McIntyre said he prosecuted most of the smuggling cases referred to him. , and only in the absence of additional circumstances such as death or injury.
“We’ve seen direct evidence that the price per person has gone up and coordinators have to pay,” he said. Compensation is changing.”
When the Safe Streets Task Force was launched, smuggling coordinators advertised paying drivers about $1,000 per migrant to bring them to Phoenix, Watkins said. Now that it’s more challenging and riskier, the price has gone up to $3,000 per person. New laws and additional enforcement are expected to discourage drivers from putting themselves and others at risk.
Cochise County law enforcement is working with the Mexican Consulate in Douglas to spread the message about the risks and dangers south of the border. Consul Ricardo Pineda said he had a permanent campaign, especially in Douglas’ cross-border city of Agua Prieta, to warn migrants.
“Don’t get caught up with human smugglers,” Pineda said. “They are soulless and have no respect for life or people’s safety, and it has a huge impact on our community.”
The Consulate is dealing with the tragic consequences of a failed smuggling attempt. Pineda said his office was coordinating the repatriation of the remains of his 43-year-old man who died of injuries in his February 11 crash east of Benson.
Any news tips or story ideas about immigration in the Southwest? Contact reporters at rafael.carranza@arizonarepublic.comor follow him on Twitter @RafaelCarranza.
