DACA Recipient Charged with Human Smuggling near Arizona Border

Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents arrested a DACA recipient for allegedly smuggling a Mexican national through an immigration checkpoint near Lukeville, Arizona.

Agents assigned to the State Route 85 immigration checkpoint observed a Kia sedan approaching for inspection on Tuesday night at about 11:00 p.m. The agent referred the driver to a secondary inspection station, according to information provided by Tucson Sector Border Patrol officials on Wednesday.

The agents identified the driver as a 29-year-old woman living in the United States under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program created by then-President Barack Obama. The agents identified the passenger as a 21-year-old Mexican national who is illegally present in the U.S., officials reported.

The agents arrested the DACA recipient and seized her car. She is being charged with human smuggling. Officials said the foreign national will be processed for immigration violations. Officials did not disclose the DACA recipient’s identity or nationality.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments over the future of the DACA program, Breitbart News’s Penny Starr reported. During oral arguments, Justice Sotomayor said, “That this is not about the law; this is about our choice to destroy lives.”

The Department of Justice argued it does not have the legal authority to issue work permits to DACA recipients, Breitbart’s Neil Munro wrote. Munro also reported on a Department of Homeland Security report revealing one-in-ten (approximately 80,000) DACA recipients have an arrest record.

In a display of disrespect for the rule of law, DACA recipients protesting outside the U.S. Supreme Court vowed to stay in the United States regardless of any action taken by the nation’s highest court, Starr reported.