A 27-year-old man from Douglas has been sentenced to nearly 11 years in prison for illegal transportation of undocumented noncitizens and the death of a passenger near the Mexico border in 2020.
Manuel Victor Gastelum pleaded guilty in January to the 2020 incident. According to the U.S. attorney, Gastelum picked up eight undocumented noncitizens near the border, and later began driving recklessly, causing him to lose control of the vehicle.
Another male passenger was ejected from the vehicle, and was later pronounced dead at the scene. Gastelum fled on foot, and was apprehended several miles away later that morning.
Gastelum had been previously convicted for a similar offense in 2019, when he also fled from law enforcement. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison, and three years of supervised release, which he violated by committing the new offense.
-
Arizona has for a long time been one of the leading states for refugee resettlement, but now with the numbers cut so low, refugees in our state and the resettlement agencies that are built up to help them adjust are feeling the impact. -
The standoff began Oct. 5, when Border Patrol agents swarmed a protest camp situated in and around a cottonwood tree slated for removal to make way for two steel border walls — the last of a border-hugging grove on the U.S. side that was estimated to be as much as 250 years old. -
His comments come after the Arizona Sheriff’s Association accused his office of refusing requests for assistance from Border Patrol. -
The Arizona Sheriff’s Association issued an open letter calling out the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office over its response to the public safety concerns surrounding the border wall construction in that area. -
Thousands of refugees in the U.S. lost health coverage on Oct. 1 as new Medicaid eligibility rules took effect. In Arizona, unlike in most states, even children and pregnant women are being dropped.
