More Arrests by Sheriff's Office
by chaparral Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2007 at 2:40 PM

"I think Phoenix happens to be in the county." -Sheriff Joe

This past saturday was a demonstration against the recent arrests and intimidation by police from the sheriff's office. There's a story and pics here: Boycott Launched Against Pruitt's Furniture Store in Phoenix.

More arrests were made recently, although it's unclear if these were targeting local day laborers specifically, because currently the police are stopping people in cars (of course i assume they want to, but they have to be careful about how they go about it- especially in phoenix). Here's a story from KTAR: MCSO Arrests 16 Illegal Immigrants.

A quote from an earlier article: ``But, if there (sic) in a vehicle and some law was violated, we have the authority to talk to them," [Arpaio] said. ``We ask them. The Phoenix police cannot even ask where you're from or even turn them over to ICE. We do that."

I also found this information in another article (Fountain Hills roundup of day laborers nets 4):

More than 100 suspected undocumented workers were arrested between Sept. 13 and early October in Phoenix, Wickenburg, Tolleson, Queen Creek and Cave Creek.

In addition to day laborers, the arrests have included corn vendors, who were operating without business licenses and selling contaminated food, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Arpaio will be in charge of enforcing the employer-sanctions law in Maricopa County when it takes effect Jan. 1. The law requires employers to electronically verify the eligibility of new hires or risk being put out of business if they knowingly hire illegal workers.

And you know i won't let you forget that "Arpaio did not rule out the possibility that deputies could use their expanded authority to question people about their immigration status during traffic stops and infractions as minor as 'spitting on the sidewalk.'" (Source).

Interestingly, I also came across this article that exposed Arpaio's changing opinions and tactics which he says is "not about politics".

A state law aimed at prosecuting human smugglers went into effect in 2005. At the time, when asked about enforcing it, Arpaio said, "I want the authority to lock up smugglers, but I am not going to lock up illegals hanging around street corners. I am not going to waste my resources going after a guy in a truck when he picks up five illegals to go trim palm trees."...

In the Republic's computer database, the first reference to Arpaio and immigration that I found was in 1993. The article involved a task force made up of deputies and others, including a federal immigration agent. The group's focus wasn't day laborers, however. Instead, the task force had captured 59 dangerous fugitives who had outstanding criminal warrants.

"It's not going to solve the problem," Arpaio said at the time, "but we are going to reduce it."

That didn't happen. There now are between 65,000 and 70,000 outstanding warrants in Maricopa County. The only group actively going after these criminals is a U.S. Marshal's task force in which the sheriff doesn't participate.

Arpaio's reason? Lack of resources.

The sheriff does have the resources to stake out a furniture store parking lot and wait for someone to violate a traffic law, however.

As Arpaio explained it to me, "If we have these problems in a certain area - and illegal immigration is a crime - you go there like you do everywhere else, and if you see someone speeding you stop them. And if they happen to be illegals, because of our training, we arrest them."

An article in Wednesday's Republic noted that the sheriff has nabbed 1,058 people in immigration violations. It also pointed out that immigration holds have been placed on an additional 4,644 foreign-born inmates. Meaning that other departments in the Valley have quietly used their resources to arrest some real bad guys.

Busting tree trimmers plays better on TV, however. And in public opinion polls. So while some police chiefs and politicians argue - at their professional peril - that doing so is not the best use of resources, the sheriff gives frustrated voters exactly what they want.

For more information, there's a pretty comprehensive article about the sheriff's department's recent crackdown on "illegal immigration": Arpaio keeps heat on migrants

A couple more of his funny quotes:

"I happen to be the county sheriff. I think Phoenix happens to be in the county. I go into Phoenix all the time to do investigations," Arpaio told FM News/Talk 92-3 KTAR's Darrell Ankarlo.

"The last I heard I'm the elected sheriff. The board of Supervisors does not tell me how to run my operation."

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