Attorney General Mark Brnovich is asking U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate Facebook’s alleged facilitation of human smuggling at Arizona’s southern border and stop its active encouragement and facilitation of illegal entry.
“We also prohibit sharing content that offers to provide or facilitate human smuggling, which includes advertising a human smuggling service. We do allow people to share information about how to enter a country illegally or request information about how to be smuggled. [Emphasis added] After consultation with human rights experts, we developed this policy to ensure we were prohibiting content relating to the business of human smuggling but not interfering with people’s ability to exercise their right to seek asylum, which is recognized in international law. Allowing people to seek and share information related to smuggling can also help minimize the likelihood of them being exploited by human traffickers.” ~ Facebook response July 30.
The Arizona Attorney General’s Office (AGO) wrote to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg after media reports detailed how human smugglers and drug cartels use the platform to advertise their smuggling services. After several follow-up requests by the AGO, Facebook provided an in-depth response on August 30th, 2021, stating it allows “people to share information about how to enter a country illegally or request information about how to be smuggled.”
Attorney General Mark Brnovich says that states are largely preempted from enforcing federal immigration laws and certain criminal statutes related to human smuggling. He argues that it is the federal government’s responsibility to enforce our nation’s immigration laws, and specifically, the Department of Justice’s responsibility to investigate and prosecute these crimes.
“This is another example of how out of touch Big Tech is with America,” said Attorney General Mark Brnovich. “The cartels are seizing control of our southern border, and shame on anyone who is exploiting this crisis to enrich themselves.”
Facebook response