Small-scale smuggling a hot potato

By Jonathan Clark
Herald/Review

BISBEE — At shortly after 7 p.m. on June 7, U.S. Border Patrol Agent Richard Ramirez pulled over a vehicle driving north on Highway 80 near Tombstone.

According to an arrest report from the Tombstone Marshal’s Office, Ramirez found three people in the car: the driver, Douglas resident Jesus Sierra and two passengers both suspected to be illegal immigrants.

Ramirez took the two passengers into custody but declined to arrest Sierra, despite the fact it’s illegal under federal law to knowingly transport undocumented people within the United States. However, Tombstone Deputy Marshal Jose Olivas, who responded to the scene following the stop, arrested Sierra and charged him with violating the state’s human smuggling statute.

A.R.S. 13-2319, better known as the “anti-coyote law,â€