American Smugglers Recruited by Mexican Cartels Wreak Havoc on Once Tranquil Border Region

Illegal immigration and serious crimes such as human and drug smuggling that typically accompany it are devastating a once tranquil border region in southeastern Arizona where longtime residents and local officials say federal authorities have negligently handed off some immigration duties to overwhelmed local police. Judicial Watch visited the area, Cochise County, nearly six years ago and reported a dire situation back then that multiple sources confirm has dramatically worsened. At the time human and drug traffickers regularly evaded a meager force of Border Patrol agents in the mountainous region about 75 miles southeast of Tucson in the picturesque Sonoran Desert surrounded by the scenic Huachuca Mountains. The situation has deteriorated significantly under the Biden administration, residents and law enforcement sources tell Judicial Watch, especially with the addition of the new “American smuggler,” U.S. citizens, predominantly young adults from Phoenix and Tucson, recruited by Mexican cartels through social media.

“Smuggling networks have now incorporated American citizens to smuggle persons from the border to cities throughout the U.S.,” said a Cochise County law enforcement source, who added that the new trend has created deadly consequences in the border communities where the American recruits often travel at dangerously high speeds through local roads and highways. “Most are inexperienced young drivers,” according to a community leader who has lived in the area for decades. In one recent incident an elderly woman was struck and killed by a speeding vehicle on her way to dinner with family. “The youth behind the wheel was from the greater Phoenix area and was participating in a smuggling effort while evading law enforcement,” according to an area official, who also said police and residents are hyper vigilant of the deadly pursuits, which are becoming quite common and often exceed speeds of 100 miles per hour in residential neighborhoods.

Migrant and drug smugglers even use a beloved chapel, Our Lady of the Sierras, in the town of Hereford for their illicit operations. Situated on a hill with a 75-foot Celtic cross that remains lit at night, the chapel serves as a navigational tool for smugglers and the grounds are regularly used to transfer drugs. In 2011 migrant smugglers burned down the chapel after starting a fire along the border to escape the Border Patrol during a pursuit. Besides the chapel, which was eventually rebuilt, the fire destroyed nearly 30,000 acres and dozens of homes. Emboldened by the lack of law enforcement in the chapel’s remote area, smugglers openly disclose to residents that they are participating in illicit activities. On a recent evening when a local official informed a smuggling guide in Spanish that the grounds were being closed for the night, the man said he was waiting for a group to cross over the mountain then the group would get picked up. “He spoke as if his efforts were legitimate, as he continued to monitor his phone and he knew exactly where law enforcement were and their response times to the shrine,” a Hereford source with direct knowledge of the incident told Judicial Watch. “No vehicle was present, indicating he was the guide and would call for transportation once he linked up with the group.” A resident called the Border Patrol but was told there were “no responding agents” available at the time and suggested calling the Cochise County Sheriff, which also had limited officers that arrived too late to catch the illegal aliens.

Another related threat to this charming community has been created by the increasing number of packages containing deadly drugs littered throughout the area by mules, often in residential neighborhoods. Federal officials say China supplies Mexican drug cartels with precursor chemicals to produce methamphetamine, a highly addictive stimulant that speeds up the body’s system, and fentanyl, a potent synthetic opioid, and residents along the border are extremely apprehensive about handling the backpacks and other items left behind by illegal immigrants because they fear coming into contact with the deadly drugs. One longtime Cochise County resident told Judicial Watch that he found a leather pouch in his driveway recently and reported it to the local sheriff, who sent an officer to secure the pouch. “The deputy informed me that this area was extremely active at night and additional coverage by local, county and state law enforcement were patrolling the state highways to interdict,” said the resident who does not want to be identified to protect himself and his family.

Authorities are also incredibly concerned that they cannot communicate with a growing number of migrants encountered in their jurisdiction because the illegal crossers do not speak Spanish or, of course, English. “The assumption, speaking Spanish when these encounters occur is now obsolete,” a local official said. “The fear is that encounters will occur, especially at night, with someone that residents and law enforcement cannot communicate with.” Another area source said that the mass migration into the U.S. has made residents along the border hyper vigilant of terrorist attacks, especially after the October Hamas attacks in Israel. “The threat of foreign terrorists with the intent of causing harm to U.S. citizens is real,” according to a veteran federal intelligence agent who is familiar with the situation in Cochise County.

The Biden administration’s disastrous open border policies are also contributing greatly to the spread of communicable diseases, Arizona health officials confirm. A former Arizona Department of Health veteran based in Tucson offered safehouses in the town of Altar, Sonora Mexico as an example. The small compounds resemble military barracks where transients are packed in to await shuttles north to the U.S.-Mexico border. Makeshift bunks are lined up to sleep and minimal bathroom facilities with dismal sanitation, enabling the rapid spread of diseases between one infected individual and the next migrant that occupies the same space the following day. “Tuberculosis is a prime example,” the retired Arizona health officials said. “Several strains exist and when hosts, in this case migrants, for diseases such as TB are immersed in crowded living conditions, the spread of these strains is accelerated.”

These are just some of the serious issues created by the illegal immigration crisis in this small, once peaceful corner of the border region where residents and multi generations of ranchers used to enjoy an idyllic life. A few miles north in the town of Sierra Vista, residents are too scared to enjoy a simple pastime—horseback riding on their own land. One rancher told Judicial Watch years ago that he found more than a dozen bodies on his sprawling cattle ranch which has been in his family for well over a century. The property shares a 10 ½-mile border with Mexico, making it a popular route for human and drug smugglers. “If the current administration remains in office, the past three years of illicit activity is bound to become more the norm, an institutionalized lack of law and order,” a longtime Cochise County community activist and former military veteran said this week. “Criminal organizations continue to enjoy support from our federal and state leadership.”