TOMBSTONE, Ariz. (KGUN) — People in Cochise County feel the impact of illegal immigration on their roads, where any driver could be in danger from smugglers driving people and drugs at high speeds down narrow country roads. KGUN 9 went to Tombstone and saw the impact on Marshals in that small town.
Tombstone is all about old timey dangers, gunslingers and such but there are real and modern dangers on the public roads nearby.
We were about to talk to Tombstone Marshal Jim Adams about the dangers of smugglers racing through his town when one showed up and he had to go after him.
They went about sixteen miles between Tombstone and Saint David before the driver went off the road. At that point Cochise County Sheriff’s Deputies and Tombstone Marshals found three illegal immigrants, one US citizen and they were still looking for one other person.
“This is a weekly occurrence. Sometimes daily, sometimes several times a day.”
The incident kept Marshal Adams busy so he asked Sergeant Anthony Doreo to talk with us.
KGUN reporter Craig Smith asked: “So you're part of the pursuit. When you look down at your own speedometer. What do you see?
Sgt Doreo: ”I was doing 107-108 miles an hour at certain points.”
The Marshals office says it handled 91 calls last year—-and about 51 of them were to chase down smugglers.
There’s a big difference between the migrants in these cars, and the migrants in shelters. Migrants in shelters surrendered to Border Patrol. They’re allowed to be in the U.S. while their asylum claims run through the courts.
The migrants packed into cars, roaring down narrow roads, got past the border wall, and got with a driver. They’re not surrendering to anybody.
“A few months even a year or two ago. It wasn't bad at all. It's gotten off the chain now.”
We met Reed Booth doing bee removal at Tombstone City Hall. But he’s also a rancher, and he says a few nights ago a friend from the Sheriff’s Department called him with a warning.
“He said we're down here on the highway below your ranch by Bisbee by the tunnel there and just want to let you know a couple of illegals ditched out of a car and run up towards your driveway and I went oh no. And so I've been running all night, running around with my 45 and my big powerful lights and whatnot because I don't want them in my house. I don't know who they are.”
The high speed smugglers are a special danger in Tombstone where even the main road is narrow and tourists who are safe on the closed, historic streets may be in the way of the smugglers as they walk to cars or motels.
Sergeant Doreo says a lot of the drivers are just kids convinced by cartels they’ll have lots of money and little chance of arrest. But he says they’re risking their lives and the lives of everyone else they come near.
——-
Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
