Federal law enforcement agents in Arizona arrested two U.S. teenagers, including one minor, accused of smuggling non-U.S. citizens north from the Mexico border and assaulting a Border Patrol agent while attempting to get away.
Border Patrol Chief John Modlin of the Tucson region said agents took a 17-year-old and 19-year-old into custody for their alleged role in transporting illegal immigrants in an SUV on State Route 80 in southeastern Arizona.
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“A [Border Patrol] agent stopped the SUV on SR-80, but the driver fled, dragging the agent approx. 6 ft,” Modlin wrote in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday morning.
2 U.S. citizens, ages 17 and 19, are facing criminal charges following a smuggling attempt. A Willcox agent stopped the SUV on SR-80, but the driver fled, dragging the agent approx. 6 ft. The driver, passenger, and 4 migrants were arrested. Fortunately, the agent was unharmed. pic.twitter.com/RQsUmH7VAP
— John R. Modlin (@USBPChiefTCA) November 6, 2023
The agent was not injured despite being dragged by the vehicle. The driver, passenger, and four immigrants were arrested. The two teenagers will face criminal charges for their role in the attempted smuggling scheme.
Customs and Border Protection did not release the gender, name, or additional information about the two suspects.
Mexican cartels that facilitate human and drug smuggling at the southern border use Americans to facilitate the transportation of immigrants but have increasingly targeted teenagers in recent years because minors face less serious legal implications if caught.
The Tucson region is one of nine regions the Border Patrol divides the 2,000-mile-long southern border into. In fiscal 2023, which ended in September, agents across the entire southern border arrested a little more than 2 million people for illegally entering the country.
Of that 2 million, more than 373,000 arrests, or 18% of all southern border arrests, occurred in Tucson.
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Cartels openly brag on TikTok about how they make millions of dollars each week by moving people over the border without getting caught by local, state, tribal, or federal police, according to videos previously obtained by the Washington Examiner.
The Texas Department of Public Safety, which shared the promotional videos, is continuing to battle the social media recruitment of young U.S. drivers to bring noncitizens illegally into the United States or pick people up at certain locations after they have sneaked across the border.
