Near Tucson, Arizona, 2,803 people have been booked for border crimes by Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels. Of those arrests, 2,652 of those are already U.S. citizens.
“These are for state violations. Only 151 were foreign-born or illegally in our country that were booked in my jail. What I'm saying by that is the majority, high 90 percent of the people, that are coming to commit international crime are United States citizens,” Dannels said on Washington Watch Wednesday.
Dannels, the Cochise County sheriff since 2012, told show host Jody Hice most of those U.S. citizens initially left the country to go and work with drug cartels.
“I think they’re committing treason to come down here and work with criminal cartels from another country,” Dannels said.
The Tucson Sector covers 262 miles of border from New Mexico to Yuma (Arizona) County, roughly 100 miles from the Arizona-California state line.
It is one of the busiest sectors in the country for illegal alien apprehensions and marijuana seizures, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The Tucson Sector has roughly 3,700 agents working nine stations. Human trafficking is also a problem for the sector. Because it is not set up to openly welcome border-crossers, such as the media images often seen at the Eagle Pass, Texas crossing, the Tucson Sector is known for smuggling and a high number of “got-aways.”
Arizona law puts smugglers on the run
In the arrests by deputies, Dannels said 97% are single male adults. Many of them are smugglers.
"Over the last two years, we've had over 400 felony pursuits of smugglers trying to run from us. We have a new law in Arizona that says if you smuggle in the state of Arizona, you're charged for a Class 2 felony for smuggling for profit. Just in my county alone, we booked 556 smuggler drivers that come to Cochise County to smuggle for profit, working with, I call it international crime, working with the ruthless cartels.”
While Dannels and other border sheriffs plead for federal help with border control, the state of Arizona has stepped up its prosecution of human trafficking crimes.
In August, a multi-agency operation netted 32 arrests in a child sex-trafficking sting. Five minors were rescued, according to KTAR News.
In February, nearly 350 arrests were made for trafficking crimes in the Phoenix area.
The U.S. State Department has declared Arizona a main destination for human traffickers because of the state’s proximity to Mexico, southern California and Las Vegas.
Of the human trafficking cases called in, 80% of the individuals trafficked were women and girls. The average age of human trafficking victims of sexual exploitation is 19 years old. Because of this, Arizona has some of the toughest human trafficking arrest laws anywhere in the nation, according to Phoenix attorney Howard Snader.
President Biden and 'intellectual avoidance'
Dannels says he’s worked with sheriffs in other western states and in Florida to help bring attention to the border crisis.
“We’re trying to get the president of the United States to not turn his back on it. I call this intellectual avoidance and abandonment with intended consequences," he complained. We are dealing with the intended consequences right now. We need this President, it starts with him, to prioritize America's safety. Nine-eleven should never be forgotten, and right now we've set that aside as we've opened up our borders. We need the rule of law enforced. We need judicial oversight on this border because there is none right now.”
Dannels and other sheriffs feel the strain on their communities.
“We need to remove the politics from it because it's public safety, national security and a humanitarian (crisis) that we're trying to address here in our communities,” he said.
