by Matthew Holloway | Apr 13, 2025 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
As news reports from various sources and DHS officials such as Secretary Kristi Noem and Border Czar Tom Homan publicly extol the effectiveness of the Border Patrol in shutting down human smuggling, Border Patrol is sharing more reports and video of their apprehensions than ever before for greater transparency. On top of that, they also appear to be actively mocking or ‘trolling’ the criminals online.
In one such post to X, Chief Patrol Agent (CPA) of the U.S. Border Patrol Tucson Sector Sean McGoffin shared a side-splittingly humorous take on an apprehension of a U.S. citizen with two prior alien smuggling arrests.
McGoffin posted, “Camo clothes don’t blend well with upholstery,” addressing the five desert camouflage-clad illegal immigrants captured with their smuggler, who were shown in images crammed into the trunk of a sedan.
The USBP Chief said in a statement, “A U.S. citizen with two prior alien smuggling arrests was again arrested trying to smuggle 5 illegal aliens through the State Route 86 immigration checkpoint. She now faces a slew of smuggling, harboring, concealment, and transportation charges under 8 USC 1324. The illegal aliens, despite 3 being dressed in camouflage, were easily spotted attempting to hide in the back seat. All 5 aliens face Inadmissibility charges, with one earning a Re-entry charge under 8 USC 1326.”
A previous post on April 9th struck a similarly jocular tone with what reads like a standard joke set up, “What happens when a cartel foot guide, a cartel affiliate, and a gang member all climb over some metal bars and into the country illegally? They get arrested because we don’t play!”
In another post on April 8th, the USBP Chief openly mocked a captured cartel smuggler for who was caught carrying “devout artifacts associated with cartel culture and displayed matching tattoos.”
The post read, “Bad Spirits will not triumph over our Nation’s Guardians! 3/29: Three Points Border Patrol Station agents arrested a human smuggler who illegally entered the U.S. through the desert on the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation. This smuggler, who has numerous immigration violations, was identified as a faction member of the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación. He carried devout artifacts associated with cartel culture and displayed matching tattoos. Jail will afford him plenty of time to think about his direction in life, as he will be charged with re-entry of a removed alien under 8 USC 1326.“
An April Fools’ Day post definitely set the tone for the more entertaining updates as well, showing a likely AI-generated image depicting McGoffin mounted upon a “Premier Patrol Llama” citing “the rising costs of maintaining horses.”
The new direction in social media may owe to the appointment of Sean McGoffin, who replaced the previous Chief John Modlin, upon his promotion to acting Deputy Commissioner. Or as a musical post to X from the White House on Thursday may illustrate, the shift in tone could be from the top-down.
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Matthew Holloway | Apr 8, 2025 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
Chief Patrol Agent (CPA) of the U.S. Border Patrol Tucson Sector Sean McGoffin posted to social media Thursday detailed the apprehension of a Phoenix couple in Benson, AZ.
According to McGoffin’s account, a Phoenix couple, allegedly on a trip to Bisbee, AZ were stopped by the Arizona Department of Public Safety Highway Patrol in Benson and were found to be transporting three illegal immigrants. Border Patrol working with the AZ DPS took the driver and his girlfriend into custody along with the three illegal immigrants.
In his post McGoffin wrote, “The driver claimed he and his girlfriend were picking up some belongings in Bisbee when the 3 illegal aliens from Mexico asked for a ride.” Reportedly this wasn’t the driver’s first brush with human smuggling however, as McGoffin added, “Apparently, he didn’t learn not to smuggle aliens when he was sent to prison in 2022 for the same crime.”
According to the release, both the driver and his girlfriend are now facing charges under 8 USC 1324 for smuggling illegal aliens and the three illegal aliens will face charges under 8 USC 1182 for Alien Inadmissibility as well as re-entry restrictions under section 212 of immigration law.
McGoffin noted that the incident is under investigation by the Tucson Sector Border Patrol working in collaboration with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona under U.S. Attorney Timothy Courchaine. According to USCBP statistics, the Border Patrol has arrested 4,323 Criminal Non-Citizens encountered from Fiscal year 2025 to February, 289 of whom had outstanding warrants or wants, out of a total of 193,164 encounters including both Title 8 Apprehensions and Title 42 Expulsions.
The arrests are just the latest in a series of apprehensions in southern Arizona as previously reported by AZ Free News, that have seen local and state authorities working in conjunction with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Later the same day, McGoffin shared video footage of agents assigned to the Willcox Border Patrol Station interdicting and arresting a human smuggler who was transporting four illegal immigrants into the U.S. including one in the trunk of the car. He wrote, “Luckily, agents where there to thwart the illegal operation potentially saving lives.”
The smuggler will also be charged under 8 USC 1324 and the illegal aliens he was transporting will likewise be charged under 8 USC 1182. Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Staff Reporter | Apr 4, 2025 | News
By Staff Reporter |
An American citizen is in critical condition after evading Border Patrol agents while smuggling illegal aliens over the weekend.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) detailed the incident in a Tuesday press release. Detection technology observed the unnamed citizen driving a “suspicious” white Nissan Rogue traveling northbound from the border near Parker Canyon Lake around Sonoita around 3 pm on Saturday. The pursuit leading to the crash began after field agents located the car driving on state Route 83.
The vehicle stopped briefly to allow three individuals to exit, where they ran into the surrounding high desert. The vehicle continued northbound to evade Border Patrol agents along the highway, driving further for about four miles before apparently losing control and rolling onto its side. The driver lost consciousness on impact and sustained critical injuries.
Agents arrested two Guatemalan illegal immigrants and one Mexican illegal immigrant following the crash. All face charges for illegal reentry into the country, while the incapacitated driver faces alien smuggling charges.
U.S. citizen involvement in illegal alien smuggling has continued even amid heightened border security and mass deportation efforts under the Trump administration. A key initiative concerned Mexico and Canada committing 20,000 total troops and personnel to the southern and northern borders, respectively, to stop illegal immigration and drug smuggling.
Border Patrol also recently teamed up with the Department of Defense to beef up border security.
Field agents apprehended other Americans smuggling seven illegal aliens on Tuesday, also in the Sonoita area. The illegal aliens faced illegal entry and illegal reentry charges.
Two vehicles driven by two American citizens were apprehended in Willcox earlier this week.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Matthew Holloway | Sep 29, 2024 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
As the race for Maricopa County Attorney nears its end, the records of both incumbent, Republican Rachel Mitchell, and Democrat challenger Tamika Wooten have rightly been subject to scrutiny.
An in-depth investigation into past litigation handled by Wooten has revealed that, in addition to voicing direct opposition to the “Secure the Border Act” ballot initiative, the Democratic candidate defended at least a dozen criminals charged with human smuggling related offenses as a private attorney under her previous married name “Tamika Cheatham.”
Of the twelve examples of Wooten defending human traffickers, eleven were issued suspended sentences and ten were given unsupervised probation. The offenses these men were charged with ranged from smuggling (class 2 and 4 felonies) to conspiracy to commit smuggling (a class 4 felony,) all of which Wooten fought, often successfully to reduce.
At least one client, Sergio Gonzalez-Sanchez, was charged with smuggling a minor and received a more severe charge: a class 2 felony, for intentionally transporting or procuring the transportation of a human being below the age of 18 who was not accompanied by a family member.
In the 2009 case of Fernando Gomez-Hernandez, the suspect was charged with smuggling, a class-4 felony, and according to court documents, “Intentionally Transported Or Procured The Transportation Of Human Beings, For Profit Or Commercial Purposes.” Gomez-Hernandez was reportedly “the driver” and the arresting law-enforcement officers “immediately recognized,” the situation as “a human smuggling incident.”
The officer wrote:
“I immediately recognized this as a human smuggling incident. The driver who was identified as Fernando Gomez with a date of birth of REDACTED, by California identification card he gave me. Fernando only spoke Spanish, and the remainder of the conversation was conducted in such. Fernando said he was driving to Flagstaff, Arizona to drop off his friends. Fernando did not know the names of any of the persons in the vehicle nor was he related to any of them.”
The people Gomez-Hernandez was smuggling were “lying down in the rear of the van,” were visibly “scared,” and “were shaking,” according to police. “A traffic stop was initiated and upon contact with the occupants of the van, police noted numerous persons in the back seat and lying down in the rear of the van. Officers noted the subjects appeared scared, they failed to make eye contact and were shaking.”
The smuggler was plead down to a class-5 felony: “Attempt to Commit Smuggling” and served a six-month sentence with 100 days credit for time served.
In another case Wooten defended in 2009, Carlos Figueroa Ramirez was wearing “clean clothes, and newer shoes,” whiel smuggling people in the back of his truck “covered in dirt and debris.”
According to the court documents, the officer explained, “I approached the vehicle, saw one male driver who was later verbally identified as Carlos Ramirez Figueroa with a date of birth of REDACTED. In the back seat of the truck was six humans that were attempting to conceal themselves. Based on my training and experience I believed this to be a human smuggling load. The driver was in clean clothes, and newer shoes. The rest of the passengers appeared to have been in the desert for quite a few days and were covered in dirt and debris from trees and shrubs.”
In a plea deal arranged by Wooten, Ramirez Figueroa was sentenced to serve a six-month sentence in the county jail with a credit for 89 days served after which the remaining sentences for additional counts suspended.
In one case, Guillermo Vazquez-Espinoza pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Smuggling working with a person he believed to be a coyote, a person smuggling people for profit. In another, Alvaro Ruiz-Alcala was also charged with Conspiracy to Commit Smuggling with five other people believed to by coyotes within a residence. Jose Valentin Nunez-Yanez was traveling in a vehicle that was “part of the agreement made with the coyote to have him transported to the State of California.” Guillermo Vazquez-Espinoza was in the act of attempting to contract a coyote for transport to North Carolina. And Jose Guadalupe Cervantes-Diaz was reportedly conspiring to commit human smuggling to New York as part of an agreement with a coyote.
These cases merely represent the most egregious of the dozen researched. But all point to a consistent pattern of legal maneuvering to arrange the most lenient possible sentences for human smugglers and those willfully conspiring to be smuggled.
Wooten’s litigation history in this area provides vital context for her political positions which followed.
In audio uncovered by AZ Free News, researchers revealed that Wooten, attending a closed-door meeting, expressed her explicit opposition to HCR 2060, the “Secure The Border Act,” which would permit Arizona Law Enforcement to crack down on illegal immigration and human smuggling. Wooten warned the Maricopa County Young Democrats on August 26th, “We have [HCR] 2060 that’s going to come down the pipe,” and told the members “As County Attorney, I’m not going to allow racial profiling for stops” claiming, “We don’t need to patrol our citizens.”
As Maricopa County Attorney, Wooten would be positioned to effectively stop the meaningful prosecution of human smuggling in the most populous county of Arizona, the fourth largest in the nation, by the third largest public prosecutorial agency in the United States. Based on her statement to the Young Democrats and her history of consistently pushing for slap on the wrist sentences for human smugglers, there’s every indication that she will.
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Elizabeth Troutman | Feb 2, 2024 | News
By Elizabeth Troutman |
A bill increasing the penalty for convicted smugglers passed the U.S. House of Representatives with bipartisan support on Tuesday.
The Agent Raul Gonzalez Officer Safety Act is named in honor of a Border Patrol agent from the Rio Grande Valley who died in a Dec. 2022 ATV crash while tracking a group of illegal border crossers near Mission.
“This sends a signal to bad actors in #AZ06 and across our border communities that we’ll pursue actions that threaten American lives to the fullest extent of our law,” said Representative Juan Ciscomani, the Republican who sponsored the bill.
The legislation makes failure to yield a felony, and smugglers could face a life sentence if an officer is killed during the apprehension.
Agent Raul Humberto Gonzalez, Jr. was traveling at high speed on Dec. 7 when he crashed. Gonzalez died in the hospital from injuries sustained in the crash.
Gonzalez previously served with the United States Department of Homeland Security – Customs and Border Protection – United States Border Patrol for more than ten years. He was assigned to the Rio Grande Valley Sector McAllen Station.
Mayra Flores, R-Ariz., tweeted a tribute to the 38-year-old father of two.
“My condolences to the family & friends of Border Patrol Agent Raul Gonzalez,” she said. “He was tragically killed in an ATV accident while protecting our borders. Many knew him as a great father & as a go getter at work. We are forever grateful for his service and sacrifice.”
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
