Migrants caught in N. Arizona often freed
Federal enforcement lacking north of Valley
Daniel González
The Arizona Republic
Aug. 3, 2007 12:00 AM
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... 0803.html#

Human-smuggling rings are routinely transporting loads of illegal immigrants on roads and highways through northern Arizona, sometimes with fatal results.

State police and other law-enforcement agencies regularly encounter the smuggling vehicles during traffic stops on rural highways and on the two major interstate highways that traverse northern Arizona, Interstates 17 and 40. Officials say tens of thousands of illegal immigrants could be traveling through northern Arizona every year.

But when police in that part of the state stop illegal immigrants, they are often forced to let them go because they don't have the authority to detain them. Immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility, but there is no federal law-enforcement presence north of Phoenix.

"It's a fairly frequent event that we encounter them," said Lt. Jim Gerard, commander of the Arizona Department of Public Safety's Flagstaff region. "If ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is unable to respond, then we release them."

The proliferation of human-smuggling traffic in the northern part of the state comes at a time when the federal government has directed most of its Arizona anti-smuggling efforts at Phoenix and the border with Mexico.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security in recent years has added hundreds of Border Patrol agents to southern Arizona and deployed hundreds of National Guard soldiers there in an effort to stem the flow of illegal immigration through the state, the nation's main gateway for illegal border crossings and a major drug-trafficking corridor.

The government also has added dozens of agents and beefed up resources in the Phoenix ICE office to help dismantle and combat organized smuggling rings and reduce smuggling-related violence.

The northern part of the state, however, remains open to smugglers, said Alonzo Peña, ICE's special agent in charge of investigations in Arizona.

"I know it's a vulnerability we have to address. The mere fact we have no presence there and the ability of smugglers to capitalize on that is great," Peña said.

Police in northern Arizona called ICE for assistance three times in July, said Vinnie Picard, an ICE spokesman. The number, however, does not reflect how often police encounter smuggling loads, he said. Police often don't call ICE because they know it can take hours for the agency to respond.

ICE officials believe smugglers are traveling through northern Arizona on their way to McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas to evade stepped-up immigration enforcement at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

Creating corridors
The Border Patrol has recognized that McCarran airport has become a smuggling hub. In January and May, agents from the Yuma Sector conducted two operations there and apprehended 325 undocumented immigrants, said Agent Jeremy Schappell of the Yuma Sector.

Smugglers also are using Interstate 17, a major north-south freeway, and Interstate 40, a major east-west freeway, to transport illegal immigrants from Phoenix to California and the interior of the United States, authorities say. The two freeways intersect in Flagstaff.

Typically, smugglers guide illegal immigrants across the border through the desert and then drive to Phoenix, where migrants destined for other parts of the country are held in clandestine drophouses all over the Valley.

"With the number of drophouses here, we know they are moving those people somewhere," Peña said.

Highway safety at issue
The smuggling vehicles often pose a public-safety hazard because they are overloaded with passengers or operate with faulty equipment.

On June 7, a Ford F-150 extended-cab pickup truck loaded with eight undocumented immigrants from Mexico and Guatemala rolled several times on Utah 59, just across the Arizona line.

Two of the occupants were killed after being ejected, said Trooper Preston Raban of the Utah Highway Patrol.

The driver of the pickup, Enrique Aquino-Lopez, told ICE investigators he picked up the undocumented immigrants in Casa Grande and was driving them to Las Vegas, according to a federal complaint charging Aquino-Lopez with transporting illegal aliens resulting in death.

A day earlier, an Arizona Department of Public Safety officer cited Aquino-Lopez for speeding on eastbound I-40 in Kingman, according to the complaint.

It was unclear whether he was transporting the immigrants at the time.

On April 16, a 2001 Chevy Suburban carrying 14 people overturned on U.S. 191 near Bluff in southeastern Utah, 11 miles north of the Arizona line. Eight occupants believed to be in the country illegally died.

The Suburban had Arizona plates and was registered to a Mesa resident, Raban said.

The survivors told investigators they had been smuggled through Arizona and were on their way to agricultural jobs somewhere in the country.

The crash occurred at 3:29 a.m. on a remote stretch of highway, suggesting smugglers prefer to travel at night through desolate areas to avoid police.

"I think they are really going the least-obtrusive way. These roads are really, really out there," he said.


'A huge problem'
ICE is considering opening an office in Flagstaff to combat smuggling in northern Arizona and to handle other immigration and customs violations.

From February to April, ICE dispatched two agents on a rotating basis to Flagstaff to assess the need for a permanent office, Peña said.

ICE is also training DPS officers to enforce federal immigration laws.

Some of the DPS officers cross-trained by ICE will be assigned to northern Arizona.

The DPS officers will be authorized to question immigrant suspects about their legal status and detain them until they can be turned over to ICE, said Sgt. Fred Zumbo, who is in charge of a new anti-smuggling squad of DPS officers in Maricopa County.

Zumbo said it's difficult to say how many illegal immigrants are being smuggled through northern Arizona because police stop only a small fraction of the vehicles.

But based on Border Patrol apprehensions in Arizona and the number of drophouses found in Phoenix, the number could be 50,000 to 100,000 a year, he said.

"It's a huge problem," Zumbo added.


Reach the reporter at daniel.gonzalez@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-8312.