Uncommon Knowledge
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A Mexican man was found guilty of a number of people-smuggling offenses in Arizona and sentenced to 10 years in jail.
Jesus Ernesto Dessens-Romero, 28, of Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico, was given the sentence by United States District Judge John Hinderaker, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He was found guilty by a jury of multiple offenses, including conspiracy to transport and the transportation of illegal aliens for profit and bringing illegal aliens to the United States for profit.
The jury also found that Dessens-Romero put lives at risk during his smuggling offenses, and that he played a critical role in a criminal operation that illegally smuggled migrants into the U.S. from Mexico.
Jae C. Hong/AP
The Mexican smuggler helped undocumented non-citizens reach the U.S. by using WhatsApp to arrange pick-ups and drop-offs. He helped guide five Mexican nationals on foot to cross into the U.S. on February 13, 2021.
Dessens-Romero led the group with limited supplies on a dangerous route through harsh weather conditions into the remote Huachuca Mountains near Fort Huachuca in Southern Arizona where there was less law enforcement patrolling the area.
The group included three sisters – aged 23, 20 and 17 – and their family friend, 16. Two days later, the 23-year-old sister was experiencing significant physical distress and she was unable to eat or walk.
Dessens-Romero claimed they were close to a busy road and could leave the sick woman there to be found. However, he didn’t call emergency services and instead contacted his associates at a transnational criminal smuggling organization.
AP/Denis Poroy
Dessens-Romero then led the rest of the group to Sierra Vista, Arizona, where they were picked up by unidentified co-conspirators and transported further into the U.S.
The family of the woman left behind contacted authorities on February 16, 2021, to report a missing person. Law enforcement officials were unable to locate the missing woman after searching.
Dessens-Romero contacted the surviving sisters on behalf of the smuggling organization to try to convince them to remove a “missing person” social media post.
On November 20, 2021, the 23-year-old’s remains were located in an isolated area of the Huachuca Mountains. Dental records confirmed that the remains belonged to the missing sister.
Dessens-Romero was arrested after being caught transporting two individuals in Tennessee on June 30, 2021, by Highway Patrol.
Jose Luis Magana/AP
“Human smugglers profit from the exploitation of migrants and routinely expose them to violence, injury, and death,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in the statement. “Today’s sentence shows the Justice Department will continue to hold accountable these smugglers and the criminal networks that abuse, exploit, or endanger migrants.”
“Alien smugglers care only about the money to be made and not about the human beings whose lives they endanger,” U.S. Attorney Gary Restaino said in the statement. “Unfortunately, one young woman’s desire for a better life in the United States cost her her life due to the greed and recklessness of Dessens-Romero. This case should serve as a warning to other smugglers and the transnational smuggling organizations they work for: my office and our law enforcement partners will be undaunted in our efforts to bring you to justice.”
The issue of illegal immigration is a hot topic on voters’ minds as the U.S. heads toward the November presidential election.
Commenting on the wider issues to Newsweek, Representative Mark Green, chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, said: “The American people have faced the devastating impacts of President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas’ efforts to roll back the Trump administration’s effective border security measures and replace them with catch-and-release and mass parole for inadmissible aliens.”
The Tennessee Republican said: “Homeland Republicans crafted and passed through the House legislation to address this crisis. From increasing the number of dedicated Border Patrol agents and investing in critical technology for detection and interdiction to ending these reckless catch-and-release policies and seeking to renegotiate Remain in Mexico, the Secure the Border Act is the necessary step to stop this influx––and it’s sitting on Senator Schumer’s desk.”
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Brayden Burries scored 28 points, Motiejus Krivas added a career-high 25 and No. 1 Arizona remained unbeaten with a 101-76 win over Kansas State on Wednesday night.
Arizona (15-0, 2-0 Big 12) is off to its best start since winning the first 21 games of the 2013-14 season. Arizona won by at least 18 points for the 10th consecutive game, matching a mark Michigan had earlier this season that tied for the longest such run since 2003-04.
Burries had his fifth 20-point game and matched his career high by going 12 for 16 from the field while adding nine rebounds. It was his 10th straight game in double figures, including at least 20 points in five of those, after just one over his first five.
Krivas was 7 of 10, making 11 of 13 free throws, and had 12 rebounds.
Koa Peat had 15 points and 10 rebounds and Tobe Awaka added nine and 11 as Arizona outrebounded Kansas State 55-32. Arizona shot 49.3% from the field but was just 3 of 16 from 3-point range.
Kansas State (9-6, 0-2) went 8 for 36 from deep and shot 33.8% overall. PJ Haggerty led the way with 19 points on 8-of-20 shooting, while Nate Johnson added 15 and Dorin Buca 12.
Down 15 at the half, Kansas State pulled within 58-49 with 16:09 left on a 3-pointer by Johnson. Arizona responded with a 6-0 run and kept the margin at least 12 the rest of the way. Back-to-back dunks by Burries and Peat and a corner 3-pointer by Jaden Bradley keyed a 13-0 run to put Arizona ahead 92-65 with 3:31 remaining.
It built a 10-point lead less than six minutes into the game and upped it to 20 with 2:52 left in the first half. Burries had 16 before halftime.
Arizona Open Division football championship MVPs on Basha’s big win
“As soon as we stepped on the field, nerves went away and it was just playing football,” Rogers said of Basha’s performance.
Chandler Basha left tackle Jake Hildebrand, the state’s No. 1 2027 college football prospect, said Arizona State and Miami are among the top potential schools on his recently revealed 10-best list.
Miami is playing in the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl as part of the College Football Playoff semifinal against Ole Miss at State Farm Stadium in Glendale on Jan. 8.
Hildebrand, 6-foot-6, 293 pounds, has started every varsity game since his freshman year and helped lead the Bears to the Open Division state title this past season. He won’t be able to attend the Fiesta Bowl because he’s in San Antonio, getting ready to play in the Jan. 10 Navy All-American Bowl. The game airs at 11 a.m. MST on NBC.
Hildebrand also has CFP semifinalists Indiana and Oregon, along with Texas A&M, Alabama, USC, Ohio State and Texas among his top 10 colleges.
“A few schools that are my favorite from the top 10 are ASU, Alabama, Texas A&M, Miami and USC,” Hildebrand said in a direct message to The Arizona Republic. “They have definitely been the schools that have been contacting me the most and built the best relationship with.”
There is no timetable for when Hildebrand will commit. He could wait until he makes trips this spring, summer and fall. But he is among the most coveted left tackles in the country, who has 38 offers, according to 247Sports.
The 247Sports Composite has Hildebrand ranked as the No. 13 overall offensive tackle in the country in the 2027 class. He is ranked No. 1 in the class of 2027 by The Republic.
Richard Obert has been covering high school sports since the 1980s for The Arizona Republic. Catch the best high school sports coverage in the state. Sign up for Azcentral Preps Now. And be sure to subscribe to our daily sports newsletters so you don’t miss a thing. To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at richard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter:@azc_obert
Apache Stronghold leader’s propane lines severed
Apache Stronghold leader Wendsler Nosie’s propane tank lines were severed. Nosie claims it is related to the controversy surrounding Oak Flat mine.
Three lawsuits aiming to keep the U.S. Forest Service from turning over Oak Flat to a mining company for a massive copper mine go in front of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for arguments Jan. 7.
The British-Australian firm Resolution Copper has long sought the exchange to build a mine that bodes to obliterate a site Apaches and other Native peoples hold sacred. It also is one of Arizona’s few functional wetlands.
Two lawsuits filed by the San Carlos Apache Tribe and a coalition of environmentalists and the Inter Tribal Association of Arizona challenged the land exchange, authorized by a last-minute amendment to a “must-pass” defense bill in December 2014. The arguments in the lawsuits are based on the tribe’s religious beliefs and on environmental concerns, including disputes over water usage and possible damage of one of central Arizona’s key aquifers.
In the third suit, the latest to be filed, a group of Apache women who have spiritual and cultural connections to the site argue that the exchange would violate the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the First Amendment’s religious rights protections and two environmental laws.
Their lawsuit also brought two new factors into play: a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that affirms parental rights to direct their children’s religious education and references to Justice Neil Gorsuch’s blistering dissent to the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear another case related to the land exchange.
A three-judge panel will hear the cases at the Sandra Day O’Connor U.S. Courthouse in Phoenix.
Religious rights advocates and First Amendment experts have said the ability of Native peoples to exercise their religious rights is at stake.
Oak Flat story: As an Apache girl enters womanhood, lawsuits and tariffs cast shadows
For more than two decades, Oak Flat Campground, known to Apaches as Chi’chil Biłdagoteel, “the place where the Emory oak grows,” has been ground zero in a battle over Native religious rights on public lands as well as environmental preservation for a scarce Arizona ecosystem.
The 2,200-acre primitive campground and riparian zone, within the Tonto National Forest about 60 miles east of Phoenix, also lies over one of the nation’s largest remaining bodies of copper ore.
To obtain the copper, Resolution, which is owned by multinational firms Rio Tinto and BHP, plans to use a method known as block cave mining in which tunnels are drilled beneath the ore body, and then collapsed, leaving the ore to be moved to a crushing facility.
Eventually, the ground would subside, leaving behind a crater about 1,000 feet deep and nearly 2 miles across, obliterating Oak Flat.
Resolution Copper, a British-Australian mining firm, sought Congressional approval to exchange other parcels of land it had purchased with the U.S. Forest Service for nearly 10 years when the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and other officials engineered a late-night rider to a must-pass defense bill in December 2014. Then-President Barack Obama signed the bill and ever since, tribes, environmentalists and their allies have fought to stop the exchange.
Resolution has said that the mine would bring much-needed jobs and revenues to the economically challenged Copper Triangle to the tune of about $1 billion a year. The company has provided funding to support recovery from the floods that devastated downtown Globe in October and has supported other community organizations.
In November, Resolution announced it had completed rehabilitation of the historic No. 9 shaft at the Magma minehead, including deepening it to nearly 6,900 feet and connecting it to the No. 10 shaft, which plunges about 6,940 feet below the surface.
Vicky Peacey, president and general manager of Resolution, said the shaft project was a huge milestone, employing homegrown talent from surrounding communities to get the job done.
Despite the ongoing litigation, she said, “We are ready to advance this important copper project, enabling thousands of high-paying jobs, billions in economic development for rural Arizona, and access to a domestic supply of copper essential to American security and modern infrastructure.”
Grassroots group Apache Stronghold, led by former San Carlos Apache Tribal Chairman Wendsler Nosie, filed the first lawsuit to stop the exchange. That litigation was declined twice by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2025, but Apache Stronghold continues to fight the land exchange as the group supports the other three lawsuits.
Debra Krol reports on Indigenous communities at the confluence of climate, culture and commerce in Arizona and the Intermountain West. Reach Krol at debra.krol@azcentral.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @debkrol and on Bluesky at @debkrol.bsky.social.
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