The hot temperatures of June did not slow down the relentless flow of people hoping to enter the United States along the southwest border, according to data released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
While the majority of migrants crossing through Arizona are presenting themselves at CBP-operated ports of entry, there are still a number of people willing to pay big to be smuggled across remote areas along the border and then seek transportation to Tucson and Phoenix.
From Oct. 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022, U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) Yuma Sector reported more than 235,000 “encounters” – a nearly 300 percent explosion compared to the same eight months the prior fiscal year. The Tucson Sector reported more than 195,000 encounters so far this fiscal year, a 40 percent uptick.
Nationally, more than 1.6 million encounters were reported from October to June, compared to slightly more than 1 million the prior fiscal year. Those numbers only represent persons who turn themselves in to federal authorities or are intercepted by law enforcement.
However, the data does not represent the experiences faced by law enforcement officials, residents of border communities, and business owners. Which is why USBP Yuma Sector Chief Chris Clem and Yuma County Sheriff Leon Wilmot are offering law enforcement agencies across the country a firsthand look of the southwest border.
Last week the lawmen hosted two sheriffs from South Dakota, one day after Clem took to Twitter to announce USBP’s capture of Eloy Tecuanhuehue Hueyopa, a convicted sex offender previously removed by U.S. immigration officials. Clem noted that during his agents’ contact with Hueyopa they learned he had an extraditable warrant from the State of Indiana in a child molestation case.
And the week before, USBP agents assigned to Yuma Sector’s Wellton Station worked with a Border Patrol Search, Trauma, and Rescue (BORSTAR) unit as well as agents with CBP’s Air and Marine Operations to locate an 11-year-old boy who had been left in the rugged desert by his smuggler.
Many of those bypassing formal immigration channels are doing so in Cochise County, often wearing camouflaged clothing. Agents with USBP’s Tucson Sector are working with local, county, and state law enforcement personnel to address a growing lawlessness in the region fueled by Arizonans -mostly from Maricopa County- who come to the area to engage in human smuggling.
Earlier this month 15-year-old Emiliano Villalobos of Phoenix was arraigned on felony charges including aggravated assault on a park ranger with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management stemming from a traffic stop just a few miles from the international border near Bisbee. A 9mm handgun and four undocumented non-U.S. citizens were found in the car Villalobos was driving.
Villalobos is being prosecuted as an adult on two aggravated assault counts and unlawful possession of a deadly weapon by a minor. He remains in the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office in lieu of a $50,000 secured appearance bond and is scheduled for an Aug. 19 pretrial conference in advance of a Dec. 5 speedy trial deadline.
Court records show Villalobos was driving a Honda Accord on June 24 when federal agents initiated a traffic stop after several people were seen getting into the vehicle shortly after 8 a.m. The Honda was traveling on a side road approaching State Route 92, a busy road which connects the Bisbee / Naco border area to Sierra Vista.
A BLM Park Ranger, identified only as T.B., maneuvered his marked government vehicle in order to block the Honda’s ability to reach SR92. As the Honda approached, the ranger exited his vehicle and drew his weapon in preparation of the traffic stop.
The Honda initially stopped but then without warning the driver accelerated, spinning the car’s tires for nearly 20 feet in the direction of the ranger, according to a statement of probable cause authored by CCSO Deputy Marcus Gerow in support of Villalobos’ arrest.
“Ranger (T.B.) began backing up in fear of being hit by the vehicle,” Gerow wrote. “Ranger (T.B.) was about to discharge his weapon when the vehicle came to a stop.”
A search of the Honda after Villalobos and his passengers were taken into custody revealed the driver was in possession of a concealed Springfield XD 933 handgun with a full magazine and one round chambered.
The prosecution of Villalobos is just one of nearly 200 cases related to human smuggling that have been initiated by Cochise County Attorney Brian McIntyre since last summer. Most of the charges involve low-level felonies, but two Maricopa County residents are awaiting trial on murder charges in unrelated human smuggling incidents.
In January 2021, William Maurice Brown of Mesa on probation out of Maricopa County for felony aggravated assault when he attempted to flee from USBP agents in southern Cochise County while transporting several undocumented border crossers.
Brown drove his pickup at highspeed through a roundabout when the vehicle flipped, leaving two migrants dead. He is charged with 15 felonies including first degree murder, endangerment, and unlawful flight.
Another defendant indicted on a murder charge is Felix Mendez, who was 16 when he drove from Maricopa County on Oct. 30, 2021 to engage in human smuggling.
Court records show Mendez failed to stop for a USBP vehicle , then drove at high speed through a redlight at an intersection with three Mexican nationals on board. A Benson woman who had the right of way was killed instantly when her vehicle was broadsided by Mendez’s car. She was heading to her birthday party, according to public records released by Homeland Security Investigations.
Maricopa County Attorney candidate Julie Gunnigle has campaigned alongside a man and a woman that mocked Blue Alerts: a safety protocol enacted to counter law enforcement murders. The exchange occurred between Planned Parenthood of Arizona (PPAZ) Board Chair Chris Love and gender dysphoric Arizona Democratic Party leader and state legislature candidate Brianna Westbrook. The two tweeted criticism against the safety protocol in response to a Blue Alert for a man ambushed and shot at Arizona Department of Public Safety (AZDPS) troopers in September 2020.
Brian Anderson, founder of the research company Saguaro Group, rediscovered the Twitter exchange between Love and Westbrook. He shared the posts in response to a recent tweet of Gunnigle’s, in which the candidate wrote over a t-shirt from her 2020 run to read “Gunnigle 2022.” Love and Westbrook supported Gunnigle during her 2020 run as well.
In 2020, violent criminals shot at @Arizona_DPS troopers, leading to a "Blue Alert."@PPAZAction's Chris Love and @AZDemParty's @BWestbrookAZ8 both mocked the attempted murder of law enforcement.
— Brianna Westbrook for AZ State Representative #LD5 (@BWestbrookAZ8) September 17, 2020
“Blue Alerts” are information lines dedicated to communications on violent criminals who pose a threat to law enforcement. The Arizona Department of Public Safety (AZDPS) will issue a Blue Alert when a suspect kills, assaults, or imposes serious or life-threatening injuries on an officer; the suspect is deemed an imminent threat to the public and other officers; and the suspect’s vehicle license plate number or detailed description of the vehicle exists.
Love has consistently called for and celebrated violence against those she dislikes. In May, Love bragged about her husband assaulting a supporter of former President Donald Trump.
They're currently testing these drugs on Black folks and prisoners, Next up? Natives and veterans. So, every time someone tells me they vote Republican because they're "fiscally conservative," should I punch them before or after they finish? Which sparks more joy?
Westbrook has approved of controversial protest tactics as well.
In response to the protesters that followed Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) into the bathroom last October, Westbrook denounced condemnation against the protesters as the invalid complaints of “white folks.”
It never fails anytime Black and Brown folks protest. There are always white folks saying, “this is not the right way.” If this is you and you want to be an ally to communities of color, check your privileges, sit down, listen, and follow their lead.
— Brianna Westbrook for AZ State Representative #LD5 (@BWestbrookAZ8) October 5, 2021
Westbrook was also one of a small group of activists protesting for “housing rights” outside Governor Doug Ducey’s home in December 2020.
Activists protest outside Gov. Ducey's home, calling for an end to housing insecurity https://t.co/XpLotAdnji
— Brianna Westbrook for AZ State Representative #LD5 (@BWestbrookAZ8) December 26, 2020
In 2018, Westbrook was charged with criminal trespass for protesting against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination outside former Senator Jeff Flake’s office.
Thank you for your calls, letters, and emails. Three of the #FlakeFour have agreed to the Maricopa County Prosecutors plea deal for the #Kavanaugh protest at @JeffFlake’s office. All of our charges have been dropped, and the judge has waived all fines and court fees. pic.twitter.com/rdNqkHjIu5
— Brianna Westbrook for AZ State Representative #LD5 (@BWestbrookAZ8) October 19, 2018
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story accidentally listed Julie Gunnigle as the Maricopa County Attorney. She is currently a candidate for that office, and the story has been corrected.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
The Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) has been issuing warnings about the spread of monkeypox, an infectious viral disease mainly spread through intimate relations. ADHS noted that monkeypox is transmitted through “close contact” — to date, most cases have occurred in sexually active gay men.
According to the CDC’s latest data, Arizona has 11 of the 1,814 reported cases. Nearly all cases were located in Maricopa County. The first probable monkeypox case in the state occurred last month: a man in his late 30s. Most recently, one monkeypox case was discovered outside of Maricopa County: a man under 40 years old in Pima County.
REMINDER: People can only catch #monkeypox if they have close contact with someone who is infected.
The ten states with the most cases are: New York, 489; California, 266; Illinois, 174; Florida, 154; District of Columbia, 108; Georgia, 93; Texas, 76; Massachusetts, 51; Virginia, 44; and Pennsylvania, 43. As of the end of June, there were over 12,500 cases globally.
Both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) noted that gay men comprise many of the monkeypox cases, though they didn’t disclose a specific number. A United Kingdom (UK) study of nearly 700 monkeypox cases earlier this month discovered that 97 percent were gay men. 54 percent of those men had another sexually-transmitted infection (STI), 30 percent had HIV/AIDS, and 31 percent had 10 or more sexual partners in the last three months.
I have asked numerous public health experts at universities, @WHO, @CDCgov and elsewhere what is driving the #monkeypox outbreak, and they all say the primary driver is close contact in the contact of sexual activity between men. 5/
Monkeypox’s spread and public response are reminiscent of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, though monkeypox is proving to be far less deadly. That may explain the ADHS’s ambiguity. Health care providers and government officials have vocalized concern over how to warn gay and bisexual men about monkeypox without inciting discrimination against those communities.
Monkeypox doesn’t spread as easily as common illnesses like COVID-19 or the flu. People can only catch #monkeypox if they have close contact with someone who is infected. Know what to look for. https://t.co/W06gLLu0VFpic.twitter.com/NLZrjXebmi
Raymond Embry, founder and CEO of the eponymous COVID-19 testing company Embry Health, questioned the lack of coverage of a monkeypox spread in Phoenix around Independence Day weekend.
🚨 There was a widespread MonkeyPox infection incident in Phoenix during the recent holiday. That is now resulting in a number of cases. Unknown why it isn't being more widely discussed. #MPX#MPXV
Embry’s mother, JoEllen, was Embry Health’s former medical director. The Arizona Board of Nursing fined her $10,000 and placed her on a 24-month probation in April for erroneous billing that resulted in too great of reimbursements.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
The Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) has ordered a telecommunications company to detail its response to a 48-hour service outage last month by making an hour by hour report. At the same time, commissioners are considering a plan that could lead to the appointment of an interim manager of the troubled company.
The directive to Frontier Communications of the White Mountains stems from yet another outage which left thousands of rural cellphone and landline phone users without service from 3 p.m. June 11 through the afternoon of June 13.
It comes on the heels of an ACC-approved plan in March which laid out the company’s strategy for responding to such outages after a study found 911 service was inaccessible by Frontier’s customers for 66 hours from April 2020 to April 2021.
Among the most vocal critics of how Connecticut-based Frontier Communications has responded to the outage issues is St. Johns Police Chief Lance Spivey. During the June outage, a 74-year-old resident died while 911 service was unavailable, Spivey said.
“We have one service provider that provides telephone and internet, and that’s Frontier,” Spivey said during testimony at a recent ACC hearing. “So if Frontier goes down, everything else goes down.”
It is unclear whether the medical issue the resident suffered would have been fatal had prompt medical attention been available, but the police chief noted the incident was very upsetting to the two bystanders who came upon the resident as well as the emergency responders who finally responded after being flagged down to the scene.
In addition, a five-year-old girl who suffered a gruesome playground injury was forced to wait several hours for treatment while staff at her local hospital worked to establish communications with Phoenix Children’s Hospital.
The June outage also led to a lack of communication options which impacted how officials at the Salt River Project’s Coronado Generating Station near St. Johns responded to an equipment failure.
According to SRP spokesperson Erica Roelfs, employees at the coal-fired plant experienced a delay in reaching experts who needed to be conferred with. This time, Roelfs noted, the delay did not present a safety threat.
A criminal investigation is underway after Frontier reported various equipment and fiber optics lines were vandalized by two shotgun blasts at two locations across a three-mile area in Navajo County. The damage caused an outage area which covered all of Apache County as well as the majority of Navajo County.
Any decision on whether to prosecute the vandal or vandals in connection with the St. Johns resident’s death will be made once the investigation and an autopsy is complete, Apache County Attorney Michael Whiting has said. Another facet of the investigation will be Frontier’s response time to the outage, Whiting said.
A $10,000 reward has been offered and anyone with information about the vandalism should contact the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office at 928-524-4050.
The ACC’s actions earlier this year about outages in 2020 and 2021 included concerns with Frontier’s lack of progress in doing more to prevent service outages. But after the recent deadly outage in June, the St. Johns police chief wrote to the ACC, calling the company’s efforts “insufficient and inadequate.”
The chief also contended Frontier’s response to the problem is “blatantly jeopardizing” public safety.
Part of the problem appears to be a lack of a reliable outage redundancy plan to help restore service for the more than 330,000 customers whose service relies on Frontier’s lines. Another issue is that repair crews often have to drive several hours to locate the cause of an outage.
The company issued a statement after the June outage stating that company officials were willing to discuss its network redundancy with regulators in the future. Members of the ACC did not wait.
At a June 28 hearing, several people impacted by the outage were able to testify at an ACC meeting. Kevin Saville, general legal counsel for Frontier, assured commissioners the June outage was not due to a network failure.
“This was at a minimum vandalism and even potentially sabotage,” Saville said.
However, some of the company’s previous comments about the June outage came under attack, including a claim that Frontier’s customers lost 911 access for only one hour and three minutes while crews repaired the line.
Frontier’s statement about the short outage was misleading, according to St. Johns Assistant Fire Chief Jason Kirk, because most of the area receives its telecommunications service from other providers such as AT&T and Verizon who rely on Frontier’s equipment.
Kirk testified to the ACC that tens of thousands of citizens “were separated from communications and data for almost two days” and that everything from gas pumps, grocery stores and other facilities were “rendered useless because of the unavailability of the fiber connection.”
During the June 28 hearing, a Frontier manager gave commissioners an overview of how the company responded to the outage. However, that was not good enough for the ACC.
Commissioner Sandra Kennedy noted local officials were upset by Frontier’s attitude in responding to the June outage. She called for a more detailed report of the company’s response.
“That is my concern, for an hour-by-hour recap on what the company did. We may not regulate internet, but by gosh, we’re going to try to help the folks out who need our help who are complaining about your company,” Kennedy told Frontier officials.
That June hearing led to the July 8 town hall at which community members were allowed to share their experiences about Frontier. Among those who addressed the three ACC members in attendance was Navajo County Sheriff David Clouse.
As a result of the community input, Frontier Communications was formally directed to respond to the ACC about each of the comments made. The company expects to comply this week.
In the meantime, the ACC revisited its earlier outage investigation into the four Frontier companies which operate in Arizona. During discussions on July 12 and 13, the commissioners drafted and edited a Remedy Plan to address eight issues.
One of the drafts includes a clause allowing the ACC to appoint an interim manager of the local Frontier “for the convenience, comfort, and safety, and the preservation of the health, of the customers and member of the public in Apache and Navajo Counties.” The ACC website does not yet list the next meeting date at which a Frontier Remedy Plan will be discussed. In a related matter, the ACC is considering an October 2021 application by the four Frontier companies operating in Arizona to classify and regulate retail local exchange telecommunications services as competitive, and to classify and deregulate certain services as non-essential. The ACC will continue to accept public comments on the application through the end of the year.
A popular anti-fascist account dedicated to researching and writing about Arizona’s “far-right extremism,” Arizona Right Wing Watch (ARWW), blocked this reporter despite having no direct interactions.
The individual behind ARWW, who we won’t name since she chooses to remain anonymous, is affiliated with a more established Antifa reporting group based in California: Left Coast Right Watch (LCRW). Though ARWW’s block was unexpected, it wasn’t unsurprising. She declared that she doesn’t believe in free and fair coverage across the political aisle.
Local media stop giving a platform for liars to publish their bullshit unchallenged in the name of “both sides” challenge: Difficultly level: IMPOSSIBLE pic.twitter.com/FAEH0fXqdd
There are some noteworthy reporters ARWW allowed to continue following her, all of whom work for mainstream media outlets and a majority of whom share similar political views: Garrett Archer with ABC15; Brahm Resnik with 12 News, Jeremy Duda with Axios and formerly Arizona Mirror, Jen Fifield with Votebeat and formerly the Arizona Republic, Tom Porter with Insider, Phillip Martin with WGBH, Jenifer Knighton with Newsbreak, Elliot Polakoff with AZ Family, and Jimmy Jenkins with the Arizona Republic.
With over 14,500 followers, ARWW has a significant presence in the political community and offers unique on-the-ground documentation of political events from the recent pro-abortion protests in the wake of the recent Supreme Court (SCOTUS) ruling all the way back to the first rounds of “Stop the Steal” rallies immediately following the 2020 election. That’s when ARWW first launched: late November.
LCRW’s editor-in-chief is Abner Hauge. He’s long documented Antifa riots, as well as participated in them, and researched what he characterizes as extremist right-wing groups or behaviors.
Abner Bashir Hauge is there. This working class anarchist comes from humble roots, his family owns a 2.6 million dollar 6 bedroom mansion in CApic.twitter.com/65AVJegSQ4
AntifaWatch, a research organization documenting the far left, identified Hauge dressed as Antifa at a counterprotest at Wi Spa last July — a business mired in conflict after a gender dysphoric man and convicted sex offender, Darren Agee Merager, exposed himself to young girls and women at a spa, and the staff allowed it.
That's Abner Hauge, he was w/ the Antifa counterprotest at Wi Spa just last week
He pretty clearly identifies himself as Antifa and has been presented in RollingStone puff pieces as an Antifa 'researcher'
The Washington Post profiled Hauge and others for their research on “right-wing extremists” four days after the January 6 riots at the Capitol. The UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, Hauge’s alma mater, applauded Hauge for making headlines.
A month after the Washington Post mention, Rolling Stone gave Hauge another profile feature as an “undercover anti-fascist.” At the time, Hauge informed the outlet that he went by the “gender-neutral” pronouns “they/them.”
Mr. Hauge deleted his post showing the "Kill cops" graffiti.
In ARWW’s closing remarks in an interview with “Adventures in HellwQrld,” a podcast focused on the QAnon conspiracy theories and other right-wing politics, she revealed that covering politics wasn’t the ideal lifestyle for her. She said she’d rather get high on marijuana.
“I think if there was no more right-wing s**t I would just turn the computer off and go back to smoking weed on the floor, you know?”
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Congressman Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-07) took to Twitter to attack Republican congressional candidate Tanya Wheeless for including her maiden name, Contreras, in her campaign.
Gallego launched his brief attack on Wheeless in response to her jest alluding to First Lady (FLOTUS) Jill Biden’s controversial comparison of Hispanics to breakfast tacos on Monday. Little attention was paid to FLOTUS’ mispronunciation of “bodegas,” a gaffe similar to her mispronunciation of the Spanish phrase “Si Se Puede,” meaning “Yes You Can,” last April.
The congressman retweeted the same tweet from Wheeless three times with different criticisms, calling her race “convenient” and claiming that she “hid” behind her husband’s English surname.
“Glad you are a proud Latina now[,] hope it will stay after you lose,” wrote Gallego. “If you were Latino in Arizona around 2010 people were telling us to go back to Mexico. On the phone you would hear I am not voting for a ‘spic.’ We know people that couldn’t get jobs or leases. Did Tanya use Contreras then… no she hid as Wheeless. We took the arrows for her.”
In the years I have known of you in Arizona it wasn’t until you ran for office that you added Contreras. Glad you are proud Latina now hope it will stay after you lose. FYI… google Tanya Wheelers see how often Contreras comes up prior to her running. https://t.co/FUGHEMNiPG
If you were Latino in Arizona around 2010 people were telling us to go back to Mexico. On the phone you would hear I am not voting for a “spic”. We know people that couldn’t get jobs or leases. Did Tanya use Contreras then… no she hid as Wheeless. We took the arrows for her. https://t.co/FUGHEMNiPG
In response, Wheeless issued a press release countering that Gallego’s attacks were sexist and racist. She explained that changing a last name through marriage doesn’t change an individual’s identity or heritage. Wheeless reaffirmed that she’s proud of her heritage.
“Ruben Gallego’s claim that I am not sufficiently Latina because I don’t always use my full name is disappointing, but not surprising,” wrote Wheeless. “These gross attacks have sadly become too frequent in our political discourse.”
Gallego’s ex-wife, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, still uses his last name despite not being Hispanic.
Gallego changed his own last name from Marinelarena, his father’s surname, to Gallego in 2008. He decided to change his surname to honor his single mother and distance himself from his father, who he revealed had abandoned his family early on.
Watch FLOTUS compare Latino diversity to breakfast tacos below:
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
