The dangers President Donald Trump speaks of when he endeavors to fix our broken immigration system play out in the streets of America on a daily basis, more often than not with little media fanfare, but an incident Thursday in the Phoenix area put those risks on the front page — at least, locally.
Four Homeland Security Investigation agents were taken to the hospital following a shoot out with suspects in the Ahwatukee area of Phoenix Thursday morning, Fox 10 reported.
According to a statement from police, federal agents from the investigative arm of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency were conducting a human smuggling investigation and tried to stop a car to make an arrest when gunfire was exchanged.
There were reportedly five people in the vehicle being stopped. A woman in the truck was pronounced dead at the scene, while the others were taken to the hospital. Their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening, according to the Fox affiliate.
@ICEgov Agent transported after deadly shootout with human smugglers one suspect shot & killed four others injured during the gun battle 48th St. & Elliott in Ahwatukee @phoenixpolice @PHXFire #fox10phoenix pic.twitter.com/eZIYoOGrjI
— Rick Davis (@rdavisfox10) April 12, 2019
The four HSI agents were taken to the hospital for evaluation of undisclosed injuries, though reports say 2 of the officers were shot. Those injuries were also not believed to be life-threatening.
Local residents told Fox 10 that the shootout sounded like a war zone.
“It sounded like you were in a warzone, like in Syria or something, or Iraq,” said Nick Dalton.
Phoenix police are investigating a double shooting involving federal agents in Ahwatukee. Witnesses describe hearing anywhere from 20-50 gunshots. One vehicle even seen crashing into someone’s backyard. pic.twitter.com/o9NEELCsma
— John Trierweiler (@JohnTrierweiler) April 11, 2019
Another resident added: “All of a sudden, I heard this ‘dah dah dah dah dah’, you know, gunshots. And then, it went silent. And then, it was again and again and again, so it ended up being, like, it was about 70 gunshots.”
President Trump addressed human trafficking in his State of the Union address back in February.
“Human traffickers and sex traffickers take advantage of the wide-open areas between our ports of entry to smuggle thousands of young girls and women into the United States and to sell them into prostitution and modern-day slavery,” he said at the time.
Remarkably, a Washington Post “fact-checking” analysis awarded Trump “Four Pinnochios,” claiming “the president’s rhetoric on human trafficking far exceeds the available data.”
Their logic included pointing out that prosecutions for human trafficking were down 18 percent in 2018, and that the reasoning is far more often for labor purposes, not for sex. But primarily because the paper said most traffickers use legal points of entry.
The one thing not disputed, even if it was downplayed, is that human smuggling is happening. A lot.
Here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story from Twitter:
Where is the national news on this story? This is serious. The same thing that we hear of happening in Mexico is now in the U.S. Will keep this brave ICE Agent in our prayers !
— neve (@neve91447606) April 12, 2019
For God sake’s congress wake up and fix the situation at the border!
— Lisa Thompson (@Bucs06) April 12, 2019
Send Pelosi to cover their shift. There isn’t any “danger” ???
— ihaz2pnguins (@ihaz2penguins) April 12, 2019
I blame Democrats
— John Fith (@fith_john) April 12, 2019
Going to check all @TheDemocrats social media for prayers for the @ICEgov hero’s!
— WakeUp_SpeakUp_America (@SpeakupWakeup) April 12, 2019
Build the wall! pic.twitter.com/fH7YfQZVV1
— Bob Griesinger (@Bobgriesinger) April 12, 2019
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Tom@bizpacreview.com
The longest-tenured writer at BizPac Review, Tom grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills.
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