Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents arrested three U.S. citizens, including a registered sex offender, attempting to smuggle three women near Sells, Arizona.
On March 23, 2025, Tohono O’odham Police Department officers conducting a traffic stop on a GMC Yukon, uncovered a human smuggling event, and requested U.S. Border Patrol assistance. Arriving agents learned three of the SUV’s six occupants were women suspected of being illegally present in the country. Agents conducted an inspection and determined that the women were from Uzbekistan, Guatemala, and Mexico. The remaining occupants, two women and a man, were local U.S. citizens. Agents seized the SUV and arrested the entire group.
While running records checks on the subjects, agents discovered the man had been convicted of sexual offenses against a minor in 2023. One of the female smugglers also had criminal convictions, human smuggling, a federal charge, in 2023 and conspiracy to commit monetary instruments laundering in 2022.
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, all three smugglers were accepted for prosecution in federal court and will remain in custody pending a determination in their criminal case. The illegal aliens will serve as material witnesses in the case, after which they will be placed in removal proceedings.
