Federal prosecutors are cracking down on human smuggling attempts through social media platforms.
On Tuesday, the United States Attorney’s Office unsealed 13 indictments for 22 individuals. Those indictments charged these people with Conspiracy to Transport Illegal Aliens for Profit.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona, “each indictment charges a human smuggling coordinator who utilized social media, including Snapchat, to recruit individuals within Arizona to transport undocumented noncitizens for money. After recruiting the drivers on social media, the coordinators often switched to a messenger application such as WhatsApp to coordinate the logistics. Many of the indicted coordinators were identified through law enforcement contacts, data from cellular phones, and their social media accounts.”
These indictments confirm a concerning epidemic of alleged crimes surrounding the southern border. For years, local law enforcement has warned about the existence of human smuggling efforts taking place over social media.
In May 2022, former Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich and Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels penned an op-ed for Fox News, detailing these crimes and outlining how the actions affected border communities. They wrote, “Teens are being recruited because of their accessibility to social media platforms, impressionability, and youthful greed. Since October 2021, local law enforcement officials have only one recorded instance of a face-to-face recruitment between a teenager and a smuggler or cartel; the vast majority of encounters occur outside the watchful eyes of parents or guardians over social media.”
The two officials shared a heartbreaking story of how one of these episodes tragically changed the lives of one southern Arizona family forever, adding, “This crisis started to place local law enforcement officials and residents of Cochise County on high alert in October 2021 when law enforcement officials attempted a traffic stop on a 16-year-old from Mesa, who was smuggling migrants in Cochise County in southern Arizona. The teenager suddenly hit the gas, driving over 100 miles per hour through small towns and quiet intersections on a mad dash to avoid apprehension. He eventually ran a red light, smashing into another vehicle and killing Wanda Sitoski, a local grandmother on her way to meet her son for her 65th birthday dinner.”
Brnovich and Dannels called out to social media companies, the traditional media, and government officials “to highlight the escalating crisis and seek assistance.” They also warned American parents that “cartels can reach their children hundreds or thousands of miles away” because of the existence and usage of social media platforms.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona stated that “a conviction for Conspiring to Transport Illegal Aliens for Profit carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and up to three years of supervised release.”
The Homeland Security Investigations – Casa Grande and Customs and Border Protection’s U.S. Border Patrol – Tucson Sector investigated, leading to the 13 indictments. Assistant United States Attorneys Ross Arellano Edwards, John Ballos, Timothy Courchaine, Brett Day, Matthew Doyle, Lisa Jennis, Christine Keller, Marcus Shand, LeighAnn Thomas, and Stuart Zander, District of Arizona, Phoenix, are spearheading the prosecutions.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
On Tuesday, Arizona Christian University (ACU) announced that it had “achieved record enrollment and surpassed 1,200 total students for the first time.”
ACU President Len Munsil championed the news of his university’s enrollment prowess, saying, “As one of the few higher education institutions in the nation that is conservative and committed to biblical truth, we are finding more and more students and families are looking for what we are offering. For Christians who are tired of paying tuition to institutions where their faith is ridiculed, mocked and canceled, ACU is becoming an increasingly popular alternative.”
The release from ACU highlighted its blossoming recruitment and enrollment efforts, that have largely taken place since Munsil assumed control of the university in 2010, sharing, “After graduating its largest class ever in May, ACU is excited to welcome nearly 500 new students this fall, including nearly 400 first-time freshmen. ACU attracted more new students this year than its entire campus population during Munsil’s first year as ACU president in 2010. For the past decade, ACU has been one of the fastest-growing universities in America.”
Munsil shared his thoughts on ACU’s future and the importance of holding true to the university’s values and mission, adding, “Ultimately, we believe ACU will continue to grow – and must continue to grow – because of its conservative, biblical mission and uncompromising stand for the truths of the gospel. But that growth will never come at the expense of our mission – or our commitment to the small college experience and the unique, caring community we have developed.”
The new year for the university comes after a rather challenging spring, when ACU garnered media headlines over its legal battle with a local school district. In May, the Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) announced a settlement between ACU and the Washington Elementary School District after the District “decided to terminate its (eleven-year) relationship with Arizona Christian and its students solely because of their religious status and beliefs on biblical marriage and sexuality.”
ADF revealed that “the district’s board voted…to enter a new agreement allowing ACU students to teach in the district once again” – in addition to covering $25,000 in attorneys’ fees. That motion from the District’s Governing Board passed with a 4-1 vote.
After the settlement was brokered, ACU and Munsil took a conciliatory approach to recognizing their legal victory. Munsil said at the time, “We look forward to a continued beneficial partnership that serves ACU student-teachers and the students, faculty, and staff of the WESD.”
According to the university, “ACU’s mission and vision are to transform culture with truth by educating and equipping Christian leaders of influence and excellence. Recent ACU graduates have gone on to excel in seminaries, prominent graduate schools, medical schools and law schools including Harvard, the University of Virginia, and ASU’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. Other recent graduates have started businesses and non-profits, become teachers, counselors, worship leaders and pastors. ACU has continued to rise in U.S. News & World Report’s national ‘Best College’ rankings, including being ranked in the category of ‘Best Value’ due to its tuition being 25 percent lower than average for private colleges.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
School choice is popular throughout Arizona across all party lines, according to a poll released by the Yes Every Kid Foundation (YEKF) earlier this month.
The poll reported that both parents and non-parents across all political parties support the Education Savings Account (ESA) Program. 78 percent of parents and 62 percent of non-parents support ESAs. 48 percent of Democrats, 61 percent of independents, and 78 percent of Republicans expressed support for school choice. Only 38 percent of Democrats opposed the ESA Program.
A new poll found that school choice and Education Savings Accounts (ESA), in particular, are broadly popular in Arizona.
— yes. every kid. foundation (@yes_everykid_f) August 21, 2023
The poll also asked its respondents for their view of Gov. Katie Hobbs. 38 percent expressed an unfavorable view of the governor, with 34 percent expressing a favorable view and 20 percent expressing no opinion on the matter. The percentage of those who expressed an unfavorable view of the governor increased by 14 percent after pollsters told the respondents that Hobbs wanted to eliminate the ESA Program.
WPA Intelligence conducted the poll for YEKF.
YEKF is a Virgina-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit associated with its 501(c)(4) nonprofit counterpart, Yes Every Kid. Their director of policy operations, Whitney Marsh, has an extensive leadership background in Arizona.
Marsh was formerly the deputy chief of staff for former Arizona Department of Education (ADE) Superintendent Kathy Hoffman, from December 2019 to last April; executive director for the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools, vice president of education policy and budget for the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and then director of strategic initiatives under the Arizona Board of Regents under former Gov. Doug Ducey; state policy director of K-12 funding for Foundation for Excellence in Education; and senior budget analyst for former Gov. Jan Brewer.
Several YEKF executives hail from the Koch Network: Director Andrew Clark; COO Erica Jedynak, also formerly the state director for Americans for Prosperity; Vice President of Strategy Matt Frendewey, also formerly a senior advisor to both former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and Gov. Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Excellence in Education.
In response to the poll, Arizona State Board of Education member and school choice proponent Jenny Clark criticized Hobbs’ opposition to the ESA Program.
“ESA approval in Arizona is popular across party lines,” said Clark. “Maybe Governor Hobbs will get a clue! Families want choices!”
Hey Arizona – check this out! If you’re a parent, policy leader, elected official, and everything in between, take note. ESA approval in Arizona is popular across party lines.
Hobbs retracted a $50 million grant issued by her predecessor, Ducey, for the ESA Program in May. The funding was slated for day-long ESA Program kindergarten. Hobbs said the grant represented unequal treatment of ESA versus non-ESA students, since the state only funds half-day kindergarten for public school students.
Today, we held the Ducey Administration accountable for illegally handing out a $50 million ESA grant. Instead, we're going to put that money to good use.
In my administration, we are committed to ESA accountability, protecting taxpayer dollars, and truly investing in public…
— Governor Katie Hobbs (@GovernorHobbs) May 25, 2023
Last month, Hobbs’ office issued a memo declaring that the ESA Program would bankrupt the state. ADE Superintendent Tom Horne countered with an independent analysis debunking Hobbs’ prediction.
Hobbs’ initial budget asked for a rollback of the universalized ESA Program. However, the governor ultimately compromised in the final form of the budget.
We have a constitutional responsibility to fund our public schools. If we continue down the current path, we will not be able to fulfill that responsibility. That's why my budget called for a rollback of the ESA program to ensure Arizona has a sustainable https://t.co/JnVBGtxuvl…
The 2024 election may constitute a literal decision between life and death for Arizona voters: whether or not mothers have the right to kill their unborn children up to birth at any time, for any reason.
Earlier this month, a pro-abortion group filed a ballot initiative to establish a constitutional right to abortion up until birth: the Arizona Abortion Access Act. The act would prohibit the denial, restriction, or intervention with an abortion even after fetal viability if the health care professional determines that the unborn child presents a threat to either the mental or physical health of the mother.
The act further defined fetal viability as sustained survival outside the womb without the application of “extraordinary medical measures.”
The eponymous group behind the act, Arizona for Abortion Access (AAA) is led by top leaders in the pro-abortion movement, including former Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona Chairwoman Chris Love, and NARAL Arizona senior advisor Jodi Liggett.
In case you were wondering what I’ve been up to for the past ~10 months, I’ve been working with a group of amazing repro leaders to get a constitutional right to abortion on the ballot in 2024. Say hello to Arizona for Abortion Access! https://t.co/r6L2r443lG
AAA also has the backing of the ACLU of Arizona, Affirm Sexual and Reproductive Health, Arizona List, and Healthcare Rising Arizona. The organization discloses that 25 percent of their funding comes from out-of-state contributors. The secretary of state’s campaign finance database doesn’t reflect any filings as of this report (the organization registered with the secretary of state’s office last week).
Of note: AAA’s treasurer is Dacey Montoya. AZ Free News has reported extensively on Montoya’s role as a key player in the Democratic dark money network. Montoya’s political action committee collected $27 million from the fallen crypto giant of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, and has collected over $1 million from Sen. Mark Kelly and Gov. Katie Hobbs.
The chair, Candace Lew, is a Tempe-based abortionist.
In a press release, the Center for Arizona Policy (CAP) stated that the act would establish an “abortion on demand” standard. CAP further criticized the measure for claiming to incorporate limitations, when the language holds that no limitations truly exist beyond those imposed by the abortionist.
“[I]nstead of owning up to the radical realities in clear language, the measure deceitfully first includes the limitation of viability, then nullifies it with broad, nearly universal exemptions that allow stress to be reason enough for a late term abortion,” said CAP.
Rep. Alex Kolodin (R-LD03) argued that the ballot measure language misleads voters to believe that it allows for limitations on late-term abortions.
Arizona for Abortion Access's initiative is the most dishonest thing I've ever seen in politics! Every regular person who reads it will think that the state can ban late term abortions. Every lawyer who reads it it will know that is a lie. @azpolicy
— Rep. Alexander Kolodin (@realAlexKolodin) August 8, 2023
With news of the ballot measure’s filing, Gov. Katie Hobbs issued support for unfettered abortion access.
As a lifelong advocate for Arizonans’ reproductive freedom, I’m thrilled that we will have the opportunity to make our voices heard next November. Once and for all, we will make clear that the government should not have a say in women's personal healthcare decisions.…
Arizona’s top Republican legislators are coming to the aid of Abraham Hamadeh’s legal bid at the state Supreme Court.
Last week, Senate President Warren Petersen and House Speaker Ben Toma filed an amicus brief in support of Hamadeh’s latest endeavor to have the top court in Arizona’s judicial branch adjudicate the aftermath of his 2022 election for Arizona Attorney General. Hamadeh, the Republican nominee, ran against Democrat Kris Mayes, who won the contest by 280 votes after a mandatory recount.
In their brief, Petersen and Toma made three arguments for the state’s high court to consider. First, that “the Legislature has designed a robust process to uncover and correct material mistakes in election administration.” Second, that “the trial court abused its discretion by denying the contestants sufficient time to inspect all ballots and conduct discovery.” Finally, that “the petition presents questions of statewide importance requiring an expeditious resolution.”
Hamadeh issued a statement after the filing, thanking the lawmakers for their brief, saying, “I want to thank…the Arizona Legislature with the leadership of House Speaker Ben Toma and Senate President Warren Petersen for filing amicus briefs in support of our efforts to ensure the will of the people is honored. I made a promise to the people of Arizona to ensure that every legal vote is counted – I intend to keep it.”
The lawmakers’ brief answers Secretary of State Adrian Fontes’ opposition to the contestants’ efforts, accusing the Democrat election chief of “escalating rhetorical histrionics to fevered heights.” The outlined “histrionics” were “traducing the Contestants with charges of ‘weaponiz[ing] our Courts, sow[ing] unfounded distrust in our election processes, malign[ing] our public servants, and undermin[ing] our democracy – all for the purpose of trying to overturn the People’s will and topple an election.”
Petersen and Toma present two reasons why the Court should be bothered in their attempt to dissect Fontes’ “ad hominem incentive.”
The first reason given is that the Secretary’s attack is “unfounded.” The second is that “the Secretary’s rhetorical assault is gratuitous and abusive.” The brief highlights that “the churlish imperiousness with which the Secretary reflexively greets even responsible and narrow questions surrounding the administration of the 2022 general election suggests he has forgotten that he serves all Arizona electors, including Mr. Hamadeh and his supporters.”
Hamadeh’s efforts to bring transparency to his razor-thin election result have continued long after his Democrat opponent, Kris Mayes, took office in January. Mayes has continued to show little public interest in the case, allowing her attorneys to handle matters in the courtroom while she continues to revamp the Arizona Attorney General’s Office from the policies of her predecessor, Republican Mark Brnovich.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego is at the forefront of a globalist effort to ban meat, dairy, and private cars by 2030.
Gallego sits on the steering committee of C40 Cities: the globalist climate coalition of over 100 cities globally planning and coordinating a centralized system controlling consumer consumption. She is the only American on the 13-member steering committee, and was elected as its vice chair in 2021.
C40 Cities first announced their consumption reduction plan in 2019, a year before Gallego had Phoenix join C40 Cities. The coalition declared that consumption in high-income cities needed to be reduced by two-thirds to avert a climate crisis. The prediction was based on a research report connecting consumption and emissions, “The Future of Urban Consumption in a 1.5 C World,” produced by C40 Cities, Arup, and the University of Leeds.
The report established these “ambitious target(s)” for influencing global supply chains to control consumption by 2030, dubbed “consumption interventions”: eliminating all meat and dairy consumption; eliminating all household food waste; slashing supply chain food waste by 75 percent; getting rid of all cars; requiring a 50-year lifetime for vehicles; 50 percent reduction in use of metal and plastic materials in vehicles; limiting people to three new clothing pieces annually; restricting flights to one per person every three years; achieving 100 percent sustainable (or low carbon) aviation fuel; reducing steel and cement use in buildings by 35 percent and 56 percent respectively; reducing new building demands by 20 percent; building 90 percent of residential and 70 percent of commercial buildings with timber; replacing 61 percent of cement with low-carbon alternatives; reducing virgin metal and petrochemical-based materials by 22 percent; and requiring a seven-year optimum lifetime of laptops and other electronic devices.
The report also offered “progressive target(s)” that scaled back the ambitious targets.
It appears Gallego has committed to implementing the consumption control plan proposals, as well as the greater missions of C40 Cities. The same year that the coalition named Gallego to its steering committee, Phoenix approved an updated Climate Action Plan reflecting the C40 Cities’ goal of a 50 percent emissions reduction by 2030 and zero emissions by 2050. Among the city’s Office of Environmental Programs initiatives, Gallego’s administration is rolling out a food waste and composting program, the Reinventing Cities initiative to decarbonize infrastructure, and electrification of its government vehicles.
The C40 Cities report noted that food served as the biggest sources of urban consumption-based emissions (13 percent), with animal-based foods representing 75 percent of that total compared to plant-based foods’ 25 percent. Elsewhere, C40 Cities cited the Planetary Health Diet as a model, which reflects their report’s progressive target of limiting meat intake to 35 pounds annually (just over half of a pound a week, or about 1.5 ounces daily).
The coalition hailed the Planetary Health Diet as part of “The Great Food Transformation,” advocated for by the EAT/Lancet Commission. The EAT Initiative is a project of the Stockholm Resilience Center, Professor Johan Rockstrom, and Wellcome Trust (one of the key funders of C40 Cities) under the Strawberry Foundation (formerly the Stordalen Foundation) to transform the world’s food system to XYZZ. Their partners include Nestle, World Resources Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of College London, Harvard Global Equity Initiative and T.H. Chan School of Public Health, University of California Berkeley Food Institute, and New York Academy of Sciences.
EAT leadership consists of nearly 60 individuals with professional ties to the mainstream media outlets, publications, and technology companies including Forbes, the Lancet, and Google; progressive globalist organizations including the World Health Organization (WHO), World Economic Forum (WEF), United Nations (UN); the highest levels of domestic and foreign governance, including the Obamas and Clintons, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), United Arab Emirates, China, Norway, Italy, and Sweden; major universities including Tufts University and University of Miami, as well as those listed above; and a slew of nonprofits and organizations with leftist billionaire support.
In 2020, the United Nations (UN) tasked EAT with “a wide mandate to build a broad, multistakeholder [sic] coalition” to move people into “sustainable consumption patterns.”
The report also proposed limiting people to an average of 2,500 calories daily, and reducing household food waste by 50 percent through government publicity campaigns and regulations on food retailers.
In March, C40 Cities published a renewed commitment to their consumption control plan. Although the coalition insisted that the report represented an analysis rather than plan, C40 Cities leadership has characterized the report as a blueprint of sorts for achieving a halving of emissions by 2030, as noted by The Expose.
Similar to EAT, C40 Cities leveraged the COVID-19 pandemic to implement 15-minute cities, within four months of the U.S. pandemic emergency declaration. The coalition championed the same slogan used by President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign and other progressive globalist leaders: “Build Back Better.”
The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, was one of the first to implement 15-minute cities in 2020; she was elected the C40 Cities steering committee vice chair last month. Under Gallego, Phoenix is undergoing changes to reorient itself as a 15-minute city through policy changes as outlined in Vision Zero and ordinances like the parking space reduction for apartments.
Citing C40 Cities, Gallego has also been installing “cool pavement” throughout Phoenix which, contrary to the implications of its name, makes people hotter rather than cooler.
C40 launched in 2005 as “C20” under London, England’s then-Mayor Ken Livingstone. In 2006, C20 merged with former President Bill Clinton’s Climate Initiative to form C40 Cities. The Clinton Foundation remains one of C40 Cities’ key partners.
In 2007, New York’s then-mayor, Michael Bloomberg, joined C40 Cities and hosted the coalition’s second annual conference. Bloomberg remains one of the highest funders for C40 Cities, along with Oak Foundation, ClimateWorks Foundation, Google, the Wellcome Fund, the European Climate Foundation, and George Soros’ Open Society Foundations.
In 2015, then-President Barack Obama and then-Vice President Joe Biden issued a call to action for cities to join C40’s Compact of Mayors. In April, the Biden administration gave $1 million to C40 Cities to address “climate migration” in Latin American cities; that same week, the president signed an executive order to prioritize environmental justice in federal agencies, with a C40 Cities representative there to witness.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
