MESA – Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents, including members of the Arizona Special Response Team, arrested two Mexican nationals in Mesa last week in connection with an alleged human smuggling operation.
Sebastian Ibarra-Anaya and Jose Ibarra-Herra were taken into custody during a federal law enforcement operation outside a Food City supermarket near Mesa Drive and Southern Avenue. Both men now face federal human smuggling charges.
According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the two suspects are believed to have been operating as human smugglers, commonly known as “coyotes,” transporting individuals who entered the United States illegally.
Federal authorities also arrested five individuals who allegedly entered the country illegally as part of the suspected smuggling operation. Investigators said the group traveled through the Tohono O’odham Nation, which stretches along the U.S.-Mexico border in southern Arizona, before being transported to Mesa.
The five individuals were detained and will be processed for removal from the United States as appropriate under federal immigration law.
The arrests are part of an ongoing federal effort to identify and dismantle human smuggling networks operating along Arizona’s southern border and transporting migrants into communities throughout the state.
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