By JJ Hensley
The Arizona Republic
June 21, 2010
Sheriff Joe Arpaio's announcement that he will mark the dawn of Arizona's new immigration law next month with a crime-suppression operation should catch nobody by surprise.
Arpaio has been one of the most vocal supporters of the law. And he has made headlines for more than two years with his controversial immigration sweeps, typically placing dozens of deputies in neighborhoods with large Hispanic populations and ordering them to stop anyone for any violation.
What might surprise people is this: Arpaio's agency is the only one in Arizona conducting such operations, and most law-enforcement observers say they would be surprised if other police and sheriff's departments model their policies after Arpaio's.
Though few law-enforcement officials will speak publicly about it, their records suggest an unwillingness to follow Arpaio's lead. No other Arizona law-enforcement agencies have taken the same initiative Arpaio has in launching immigration sweeps.
Part of the reason is because there is no clear data demonstrating the crime-fighting effectiveness of such policies. While it succeeds in locating illegal immigrants, its effectiveness in combating major crimes is questionable, and there are concerns that such sweeps draw resources away from activities that do combat major crimes.
Advocates of the sweeps say their value is largely in discouraging illegal immigrants from remaining in the community.
However, critics suggest they simply scare legal and illegal immigrants alike and drive a wedge between members of the community and law enforcement.
While Arpaio's past 15 crime-suppression operations have captured a variety of criminals, the majority of offenders were booked for relatively minor offenses, an Arizona Republic review of crime data shows. For example, an April sweep caught 93 people, most of whom were snared either solely for immigration violations or for minor offenses. Only two violent offenders were arrested.
Arpaio's deputies have arrested 932 people in their operations dating back to March 2008. Of those, 708 were suspected of being in the country illegally, according to the Sheriff's Office.
The sweeps did result in some felony arrests of legal residents on charges including assault on a police officer, aggravated assault, trafficking in stolen goods and aggravated driving under the influence. The majority of legal residents arrested in the operations were booked on suspicion of driving with suspended licenses or on outstanding warrants.
Most of those suspected of being in the country illegally were arrested when Arpaio's deputies still had an agreement with the federal government that authorized them to act as immigration agents. The bulk of those inmates landed in jail based on their immigration status, though one was booked on suspicion of aggravated assault and another on suspicion of possession of dangerous drugs for sale.
Regardless of the type of suspects ensnared in the crime-suppression operations, Arpaio considers the ventures a success.
"I think it's successful when you arrest 111 people," Arpaio said, referring to arrests in an operation three months ago. "Is it successful to send hundreds of cops out every holiday to do DUIs? Why do we always pinpoint illegal immigration when we have other task forces? I'm the bad guy when we arrest illegal immigrants and other criminal activity."
The operations are based on Arpaio's stance that crossing the border illegally is a serious crime, regardless of whether the person commits other misdemeanor or felony violations after illegally entering the country. Critics respond that the raids waste resources when the agency has seen more than $10 million cut from its operating budget.
Not much is expected to change for Arpaio's teams when Arizona's new immigration law goes into effect July 29.
The law makes it a state crime to be in the country illegally. It states that an officer engaged in a lawful stop, detention or arrest shall, when practicable, ask about a person's legal status when reasonable suspicion exists that the person is in the U.S. illegally.
It does little to expand the authority Arpaio has exercised to date.
To conduct his operations over the past two years, Arpaio relied on an agreement with the federal government authorizing deputies to act as immigration agents and a state law allowing immigrants to be charged as co-conspirators in their own smuggling. Those not suspected of a crime typically were turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, at which point they could either seek voluntary deportation or request a hearing.
Because Arizona's new law makes it a crime to be in the state illegally, sheriff's deputies will have the ability to book suspects into jail instead of handing them over to ICE agents.
The size and scope of the sweeps have varied since Arpaio launched the efforts in 2008 near 32nd Street and Thomas Road.
A three-day sweep in Mesa last summer paid 83 deputies and supervisors to arrest 59 people at a cost of $38,387. A two-day operation in Fountain Hills in May 2008 used 13 deputies, cost $3,947 and resulted in 20 arrests.
The Sheriff's Office pays for the operations through its general fund, state funding and grants. Arpaio is not concerned about the expense, saying the deputies in those operations would be working anyway - it is just a matter of when and where.
In October, the federal government severed the agreement with Arpaio's office that authorized deputies to act as immigration agents. The sweeps then changed from operations in neighborhoods to efforts largely concentrated on businesses, highways and rural roads in the county, where deputies could arrest suspects on identity-theft and fraud charges or using the state's human-smuggling law.
Roughly 60 percent of the 287 people arrested in those operations were suspected of being in the country illegally, and many were booked on suspicion of violating the human-smuggling law.
But in April, Arpaio's deputies returned to the familiar routine of concentrating on a particular part of town, this time west Phoenix. Records for that April raid show 29 of the 93 arrested were legal residents. Ten of those legal residents were fugitives arrested by the sheriff's warrant unit as the operation began.
The notion of the sweeps returning to neighborhoods is troubling to some critics, who worry about legal residents being caught up in the raids.
Sergio Martinez-Villaman claims that happened to him in a June 2008 crime-suppression operation in Mesa.
Deputies stopped Martinez-Villaman for failing to use a turn signal, according to the sheriff's records. They arrested him after they say he failed to show identification.
Before he was arrested, Martinez-Villaman, a Mexican citizen living legally in the U.S., claims he gave the arresting deputy various documents, including an Arizona ID card, proof of insurance, a passport and a visa, according to court records.
Martinez-Villaman was jailed and held for 13 days when he could not pay bond, court records say.
His attorney, Scott Halverson, said Arizona's new law might encourage more law-enforcement agencies to mirror Arpaio's approach to immigration enforcement. It could also result in more cases like Martinez-Villaman's.
"Even though the law tries to preclude that, the message it sent out throughout the community for law enforcement inclined to do this, is just go ahead and stop whoever you want," he said. "This is sort of a wink-and-a-nod implicit carte blanche to stop people for suspicion, just a check to see if they're here illegally."
Arpaio prefers to think that the unique nature of Martinez-Villaman's claim is a promising sign.
"You're talking about one case, what's one case out of thousands?" he asked. "You don't stop enforcing the law because one person sues you - then nobody would enforce the law."
http://www.azcentral.com/community/surprise/articles/2010/06/21/20100621joe-arpaio-crime-sweeps.html#ixzz0s5L9HgMI
Showing posts with label Arpaio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arpaio. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Sheriff's deputies make migrant raids on Sizzlers
By Dustin Gardiner
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 12, 2010
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's deputies on Saturday served search warrants on two Sizzler steak houses in Phoenix suspected of employing illegal immigrants.
According to a statement from Lt. Brian Lee, deputies arrested nine employees who they believe are using fraudulent identification to gain employment.
The Sizzlers targeted in the raid are located at 5060 W. Indian School Road and 10460 N. 28th Drive, the statement said.
Saturday's arrests followed a year-long investigation into a tip from a former manager who claims he was fired by the restaurant for being unwilling to hire employees without proper identification, Lee said.
The manager was reportedly offered three months severance for not going to law enforcement, Lee said. He said deputies were looking for 23 suspects wanted for identity theft, including one who has been deported three times and has been hired back by Sizzler each time upon his return.
Sheriff Arpaio said, "This is another example of a case where desperately needed jobs are being occupied by illegal aliens who have disregarded our laws and our borders."
The Sheriff's Office said a manager at the Indian School location was fined $1,000 by the federal government in the late 1980s for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants.
When asked about the raids, an employee answering the phone at the Sizzler location near the Metrocenter Mall said, "We're not interested in a (newspaper) subscription" and ended the call.
http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2010/06/12/20100612arizona-immigration-arpaio-sizzler-rapid-ON.html#ixzz0qvD6VBwe
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 12, 2010
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's deputies on Saturday served search warrants on two Sizzler steak houses in Phoenix suspected of employing illegal immigrants.
According to a statement from Lt. Brian Lee, deputies arrested nine employees who they believe are using fraudulent identification to gain employment.
The Sizzlers targeted in the raid are located at 5060 W. Indian School Road and 10460 N. 28th Drive, the statement said.
Saturday's arrests followed a year-long investigation into a tip from a former manager who claims he was fired by the restaurant for being unwilling to hire employees without proper identification, Lee said.
The manager was reportedly offered three months severance for not going to law enforcement, Lee said. He said deputies were looking for 23 suspects wanted for identity theft, including one who has been deported three times and has been hired back by Sizzler each time upon his return.
Sheriff Arpaio said, "This is another example of a case where desperately needed jobs are being occupied by illegal aliens who have disregarded our laws and our borders."
The Sheriff's Office said a manager at the Indian School location was fined $1,000 by the federal government in the late 1980s for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants.
When asked about the raids, an employee answering the phone at the Sizzler location near the Metrocenter Mall said, "We're not interested in a (newspaper) subscription" and ended the call.
http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2010/06/12/20100612arizona-immigration-arpaio-sizzler-rapid-ON.html#ixzz0qvD6VBwe
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Hispanics protest Arizona bill to combat illegal immigration
April 23, 2010
The Associated Press
PHOENIX – Hundreds of Hispanics protested outside the Arizona Capitol complex on Thursday, calling on Gov. Jan Brewer to veto a sweeping bill to combat illegal immigration.
Brewer wasn't taking action Thursday on the bill championed by fellow Republicans, her office said. She has until Saturday to act on the bill sent Monday to her by the GOP-led Legislature.
"This is not a Latino fight. This a fight against hate," said Daniel Rodriguez, an Arizona State University graduate, who spoke at the protest.
In the crowd, high school sophomore Citlalli Reyes said she feared police would engage in racial profiling if the bill becomes law.
"They're trying too hard to get rid of us," the 16-year-old Phoenix resident said.
The bill would require police to question people about their immigration status if there's reason to suspect they're in the country illegally. It also would make it a state crime for illegal immigrants to not have alien registration documents.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-immigration_23tex.ART.State.Edition1.4c727b7.html
The Associated Press
PHOENIX – Hundreds of Hispanics protested outside the Arizona Capitol complex on Thursday, calling on Gov. Jan Brewer to veto a sweeping bill to combat illegal immigration.
Brewer wasn't taking action Thursday on the bill championed by fellow Republicans, her office said. She has until Saturday to act on the bill sent Monday to her by the GOP-led Legislature.
"This is not a Latino fight. This a fight against hate," said Daniel Rodriguez, an Arizona State University graduate, who spoke at the protest.
In the crowd, high school sophomore Citlalli Reyes said she feared police would engage in racial profiling if the bill becomes law.
"They're trying too hard to get rid of us," the 16-year-old Phoenix resident said.
The bill would require police to question people about their immigration status if there's reason to suspect they're in the country illegally. It also would make it a state crime for illegal immigrants to not have alien registration documents.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-immigration_23tex.ART.State.Edition1.4c727b7.html
Friday, March 26, 2010
21 arrested after raid of 4 McDonald’s restaurants, 1 home
Reported by: ABC15.com staff
Last Update: 3/26/2010
MARICOPA COUNTY, AZ – A raid targeting illegal immigration led to the arrests of 21 Phoenix-area McDonald's workers Friday, and authorities were still seeking 30 other employees as part of their investigation.
Deputies armed with search warrants raided McDonald’s restaurants in Scottsdale, Tempe and Mesa Friday morning.
The McDonald’s locations include:
* McDonald’s 1516 North Hayden Road, Scottsdale
* McDonald’s 3218 South McClintock, Tempe
* McDonald’s 2130 West Southern, Mesa
* McDonald’s 1460 West Southern, Mesa
Arpaio said information developed by his deputies indicates that over 50 employees working at the businesses may be using falsified or stolen identities for the purposes of gaining employment.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio says it will take more time to determine whether any of them are illegal immigrants as officials suspect.
Deputies also searched a mansion in Paradise Valley. The mansion is owned by Richard Coulston, who owns the restaurants. Coulston was not arrested.
McDonald's Corp. referred comment to Coulston's company, R&L Management. In a statement, the company says people shouldn't jump to conclusions without all the facts.
"The company has trained its managers and hiring personnel regarding proper hiring procedures," Pace said. "It does not permit the hiring of employees without completing those procedures ... Any individuals unable to meet the legal requirements for establishing authorization to work are not hired."
Pace said the company was cooperating with the sheriff's office.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Friday afternoon that McDonald's employees had been prepped on what to do if they were raided.
Arpaio also said most employees' records were not kept at the store, but at the Coulston's lawyer's office.
Arpaio said deputies were tipped off in November to the McDonald's they raided by a caller to their illegal immigration hot line, and the tipster alleged several employees bragged about being illegal immigrants.
Deputies used government databases to identify 51 workers who appear to be illegal workers, and were looking for the 30 outstanding suspects.
County officials said if any of the workers turns out to be an illegal immigrant, it could be their fourth civil case under the employer sanctions law, which penalizes employers for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants. The law, which is more than two years old, carries license suspensions and revocations for those who knowingly make illegal hires and is designed to reduce the economic incentive for immigrants to cross the border.
http://www.abc15.com/content/news/northeastvalley/paradisevalley/story/21-arrested-after-raid-of-4-McDonald-s/rB1Qa5lZr0CxtRPn3z-gmw.cspx
Last Update: 3/26/2010
MARICOPA COUNTY, AZ – A raid targeting illegal immigration led to the arrests of 21 Phoenix-area McDonald's workers Friday, and authorities were still seeking 30 other employees as part of their investigation.
Deputies armed with search warrants raided McDonald’s restaurants in Scottsdale, Tempe and Mesa Friday morning.
The McDonald’s locations include:
* McDonald’s 1516 North Hayden Road, Scottsdale
* McDonald’s 3218 South McClintock, Tempe
* McDonald’s 2130 West Southern, Mesa
* McDonald’s 1460 West Southern, Mesa
Arpaio said information developed by his deputies indicates that over 50 employees working at the businesses may be using falsified or stolen identities for the purposes of gaining employment.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio says it will take more time to determine whether any of them are illegal immigrants as officials suspect.
Deputies also searched a mansion in Paradise Valley. The mansion is owned by Richard Coulston, who owns the restaurants. Coulston was not arrested.
McDonald's Corp. referred comment to Coulston's company, R&L Management. In a statement, the company says people shouldn't jump to conclusions without all the facts.
"The company has trained its managers and hiring personnel regarding proper hiring procedures," Pace said. "It does not permit the hiring of employees without completing those procedures ... Any individuals unable to meet the legal requirements for establishing authorization to work are not hired."
Pace said the company was cooperating with the sheriff's office.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Friday afternoon that McDonald's employees had been prepped on what to do if they were raided.
Arpaio also said most employees' records were not kept at the store, but at the Coulston's lawyer's office.
Arpaio said deputies were tipped off in November to the McDonald's they raided by a caller to their illegal immigration hot line, and the tipster alleged several employees bragged about being illegal immigrants.
Deputies used government databases to identify 51 workers who appear to be illegal workers, and were looking for the 30 outstanding suspects.
County officials said if any of the workers turns out to be an illegal immigrant, it could be their fourth civil case under the employer sanctions law, which penalizes employers for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants. The law, which is more than two years old, carries license suspensions and revocations for those who knowingly make illegal hires and is designed to reduce the economic incentive for immigrants to cross the border.
http://www.abc15.com/content/news/northeastvalley/paradisevalley/story/21-arrested-after-raid-of-4-McDonald-s/rB1Qa5lZr0CxtRPn3z-gmw.cspx
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Sheriff plans new crime suppression, immigrant sweep
Reported by: Deborah Stocks
ABC 15
Last Update: 3/05/2010
Crime Suppression PHOENIX -- The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said Friday it is planning another crime suppression operation with the next two weeks.
According to a news release, deputies have arrested 77 undocumented immigrants on human smuggling charges over the past week, including eight Thursday night.
Officials say the arrests were the result of four traffic stops and one drop house discovered by deputies earlier this week.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio says the arrests by patrol deputies are on the rise after the department recently initiated a program to provide its 900 sworn deputies "training on the detection and arrest of illegal aliens."
The Sheriff's new program was initiated the federal government stripped 100 deputies of their authority to act as federal immigration agents.
http://www.abc15.com/content/news/phoenixmetro/central/story/Sheriff-plans-new-crime-suppression-immigrant/veMkug4ZS0q4Tu_g2o_-Ag.cspx
ABC 15
Last Update: 3/05/2010
Crime Suppression PHOENIX -- The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said Friday it is planning another crime suppression operation with the next two weeks.
According to a news release, deputies have arrested 77 undocumented immigrants on human smuggling charges over the past week, including eight Thursday night.
Officials say the arrests were the result of four traffic stops and one drop house discovered by deputies earlier this week.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio says the arrests by patrol deputies are on the rise after the department recently initiated a program to provide its 900 sworn deputies "training on the detection and arrest of illegal aliens."
The Sheriff's new program was initiated the federal government stripped 100 deputies of their authority to act as federal immigration agents.
http://www.abc15.com/content/news/phoenixmetro/central/story/Sheriff-plans-new-crime-suppression-immigrant/veMkug4ZS0q4Tu_g2o_-Ag.cspx
Friday, March 5, 2010
Detained Migrant Women Shackled During Childbirth
By Valeria Fernández
Inter Press Service News Agency
PHOENIX, Arizona, Mar 4 (IPS) - When Maricopa County sheriff's deputies raided Celia Alejandra Alvarez's workplace and discovered her hiding place, she says they lifted her off her feet and slammed her face into a wall, causing injuries to her jaw and teeth. Later, in detention for having false documents, she says she was not given medical care.
"I'm never going to forget what I went through behind bars," the 32-year-old Mexican immigrant told IPS. Last month, she filed a lawsuit against the sheriff's office.
Alvarez is not alone. Other immigrant women and mothers like her describe allegations of physical abuse and being shackled during childbirth while in the custody of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who runs five county jails, is in the national spotlight for his crusade to have local police arrest undocumented immigrants and facilitate their deportation. But he is also the subject of a probe into civil rights violations, and a federal grand jury on abuse of power.
Advocates contend the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the sheriff's office are equally to blame for the alleged violations occurring at the jails. They argue the cooperation between local police and immigration authorities has led to increased arrests of undocumented immigrants for minor offences.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the enforcement arm of DHS, has an agreement with Arapio known as 287(g) that allows jailers to place retainers on undocumented immigrants to transfer custody once their state charges are resolved.
ICE officials defend the agreement, reporting that 69 percent of immigrants detected through this programme in Maricopa have committed serious crimes. Among the categories included in "serious crimes" are people accused of forgery and identity theft - crimes connected with immigrants' inability to present legal documents to work.
Part of the issue is that laws in Arizona related to employment are being used to "cast a wide net" across immigrant communities in order to deport people, said Victoria Lopez, an immigration attorney and immigrant rights advocate at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Arizona.
"This is sad. It's a crime out of the necessity to feed one's children, to live and function and take care of one's family," she told IPS.
That is what Alvarez did. She took on the false name of Francisca Perez Mendoza and got a job at a landscaping company for six dollars an hour. The mother of four children born in the U.S. was still nursing her three-month-old baby at the time of the raid.
On the early morning of Feb. 11, 2009, dozens of sheriff deputies wearing ski masks arrived at her job and arrested 60 workers.
"It was unfair the way they arrested us, it was like they were chasing rabbits," said Alvarez.
She said after a deputy injured her jaw, one of them hit her with a clipboard for trying to speak to a family member who had also been detained.
Her experience only worsened when she was incarcerated in Estrella Jail.
The facility holds over 2,000 women at a time. According to estimates, about 10 percent are undocumented immigrants and 70 percent haven't yet been convicted of any crime.
Alvarez was forced to strip in front of male guards and take off the religious garments she wore as a member of the Church of the Latter Day Saints to don the black-and-white-striped uniform used in the jail. She says that during her three months in the jail, she didn't receive proper medical treatment or medicine to ease the pain of her injuries.
Maria del Carmen Garcia, a Mexican immigrant and mother of three, told a similar story. She has a pending civil lawsuit against the sheriff's office.
Garcia, 46, was arrested when police come to her home to tell her not to put up yard sale signs around her neighbourhood. The officer decided to arrest her on forgery charges when she presented her identification.
She was only in Estrella Jail for five days when the charges were dropped for lack of evidence. But her nightmare began on the way out.
The incident happened on Mar. 11, 2009. Six deputies forced her to put her fingerprint on a form to be transferred to ICE and allegedly broke her arm. After that, she was locked in a room all night.
Garcia, a housewife who has been living in the U.S. for close to 20 years, was fortunate enough to have a criminal defence attorney assist in securing her release.
"Had I been deported, I wouldn't be able to tell my story," she said. "I promised all the other women in there that I would speak up."
An internal investigation by authorities determined that her claims were "unfounded", but did not dispute the fact that she was forced to put her fingerprint on the form.
An alarming problem for advocates is that "many people are traumatised, many feel very pressured by the conditions (in the jails) to sign voluntary deportations or to wave their rights to see an immigration judge," said immigration attorney Lopez.
Undocumented immigrant women who enter the jail must await trial behind bars. They are denied bond under state laws and they are also held on a retainer to be turned over to immigration authorities after their cases are resolved.
This has resulted in situations where pregnant women had to give birth in detention, unlike other detainees who can be bailed out. The sheriff's office practice is to shackle pregnant inmates during childbirth.
In October 2008, Alma Chacón, 35, an undocumented immigrant arrested during a traffic stop for having unpaid tickets, gave birth in a "forensic restraint". The sheriff office said they used a 12-foot-long chain to restrain her. But she recalled that they shackled her hands and legs. She wasn't allowed to hold her baby until she was released from immigration custody 70 days later.
"I hope that if I tell my story, they are finally going to change things," she told IPS.
Last December, Miriam Mendiola-Martinez, 34, had a similar experience. The undocumented Mexican immigrant was arrested for using somebody else's name to work in a department store for six years.
She said that she spent the last two months of her pregnancy in Estrella Jail being shackled every time she was transported and poorly fed. She had a Caesarian section at the hospital, but a deputy shackled her to the bed when she was still bleeding from her recovery.
"There wasn't a reason for it, I couldn't escape," she told IPS.
Sheriff Arpaio plans to expand his immigration enforcement programme. He dismisses allegations of human rights abuses and says his officers have helped to identify over 33,000 undocumented immigrants that came to his jails in the past three years.
Currently, legislators in Arizona are working on a bill that would allow local police to arrest an undocumented immigrant for trespassing on state land. If it becomes law, the number of immigrants arriving at the jails is expected to increase.
In fiscal year 2009, ICE held more than 380,000 migrants in detention. About 60 percent of them were detained by local law enforcement through programmes like 287(g). More than half had no criminal record, according to a report issued by a former official at DHS.
Last October, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced a review of the detention immigration system to prioritise health, safety and responsibility. Part of the plan includes expanding agreements with local authorities to identify undocumented immigrants that come into the jails.
In response, human rights groups across the country launched the campaign "Dignity, Not Detention". It denounces the expansion of detention and the increased role of local police in the incarceration of undocumented immigrants for minor offences.
"We don't feel there could be any true reform of the detention system without taking a look at the use of local law enforcement and the number of people being swept up by it," said Jacki Esposito, policy coordinator with Detention Watch Network (DWN), the group that is spearheading the campaign.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50546
Inter Press Service News Agency
PHOENIX, Arizona, Mar 4 (IPS) - When Maricopa County sheriff's deputies raided Celia Alejandra Alvarez's workplace and discovered her hiding place, she says they lifted her off her feet and slammed her face into a wall, causing injuries to her jaw and teeth. Later, in detention for having false documents, she says she was not given medical care.
"I'm never going to forget what I went through behind bars," the 32-year-old Mexican immigrant told IPS. Last month, she filed a lawsuit against the sheriff's office.
Alvarez is not alone. Other immigrant women and mothers like her describe allegations of physical abuse and being shackled during childbirth while in the custody of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who runs five county jails, is in the national spotlight for his crusade to have local police arrest undocumented immigrants and facilitate their deportation. But he is also the subject of a probe into civil rights violations, and a federal grand jury on abuse of power.
Advocates contend the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the sheriff's office are equally to blame for the alleged violations occurring at the jails. They argue the cooperation between local police and immigration authorities has led to increased arrests of undocumented immigrants for minor offences.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the enforcement arm of DHS, has an agreement with Arapio known as 287(g) that allows jailers to place retainers on undocumented immigrants to transfer custody once their state charges are resolved.
ICE officials defend the agreement, reporting that 69 percent of immigrants detected through this programme in Maricopa have committed serious crimes. Among the categories included in "serious crimes" are people accused of forgery and identity theft - crimes connected with immigrants' inability to present legal documents to work.
Part of the issue is that laws in Arizona related to employment are being used to "cast a wide net" across immigrant communities in order to deport people, said Victoria Lopez, an immigration attorney and immigrant rights advocate at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Arizona.
"This is sad. It's a crime out of the necessity to feed one's children, to live and function and take care of one's family," she told IPS.
That is what Alvarez did. She took on the false name of Francisca Perez Mendoza and got a job at a landscaping company for six dollars an hour. The mother of four children born in the U.S. was still nursing her three-month-old baby at the time of the raid.
On the early morning of Feb. 11, 2009, dozens of sheriff deputies wearing ski masks arrived at her job and arrested 60 workers.
"It was unfair the way they arrested us, it was like they were chasing rabbits," said Alvarez.
She said after a deputy injured her jaw, one of them hit her with a clipboard for trying to speak to a family member who had also been detained.
Her experience only worsened when she was incarcerated in Estrella Jail.
The facility holds over 2,000 women at a time. According to estimates, about 10 percent are undocumented immigrants and 70 percent haven't yet been convicted of any crime.
Alvarez was forced to strip in front of male guards and take off the religious garments she wore as a member of the Church of the Latter Day Saints to don the black-and-white-striped uniform used in the jail. She says that during her three months in the jail, she didn't receive proper medical treatment or medicine to ease the pain of her injuries.
Maria del Carmen Garcia, a Mexican immigrant and mother of three, told a similar story. She has a pending civil lawsuit against the sheriff's office.
Garcia, 46, was arrested when police come to her home to tell her not to put up yard sale signs around her neighbourhood. The officer decided to arrest her on forgery charges when she presented her identification.
She was only in Estrella Jail for five days when the charges were dropped for lack of evidence. But her nightmare began on the way out.
The incident happened on Mar. 11, 2009. Six deputies forced her to put her fingerprint on a form to be transferred to ICE and allegedly broke her arm. After that, she was locked in a room all night.
Garcia, a housewife who has been living in the U.S. for close to 20 years, was fortunate enough to have a criminal defence attorney assist in securing her release.
"Had I been deported, I wouldn't be able to tell my story," she said. "I promised all the other women in there that I would speak up."
An internal investigation by authorities determined that her claims were "unfounded", but did not dispute the fact that she was forced to put her fingerprint on the form.
An alarming problem for advocates is that "many people are traumatised, many feel very pressured by the conditions (in the jails) to sign voluntary deportations or to wave their rights to see an immigration judge," said immigration attorney Lopez.
Undocumented immigrant women who enter the jail must await trial behind bars. They are denied bond under state laws and they are also held on a retainer to be turned over to immigration authorities after their cases are resolved.
This has resulted in situations where pregnant women had to give birth in detention, unlike other detainees who can be bailed out. The sheriff's office practice is to shackle pregnant inmates during childbirth.
In October 2008, Alma Chacón, 35, an undocumented immigrant arrested during a traffic stop for having unpaid tickets, gave birth in a "forensic restraint". The sheriff office said they used a 12-foot-long chain to restrain her. But she recalled that they shackled her hands and legs. She wasn't allowed to hold her baby until she was released from immigration custody 70 days later.
"I hope that if I tell my story, they are finally going to change things," she told IPS.
Last December, Miriam Mendiola-Martinez, 34, had a similar experience. The undocumented Mexican immigrant was arrested for using somebody else's name to work in a department store for six years.
She said that she spent the last two months of her pregnancy in Estrella Jail being shackled every time she was transported and poorly fed. She had a Caesarian section at the hospital, but a deputy shackled her to the bed when she was still bleeding from her recovery.
"There wasn't a reason for it, I couldn't escape," she told IPS.
Sheriff Arpaio plans to expand his immigration enforcement programme. He dismisses allegations of human rights abuses and says his officers have helped to identify over 33,000 undocumented immigrants that came to his jails in the past three years.
Currently, legislators in Arizona are working on a bill that would allow local police to arrest an undocumented immigrant for trespassing on state land. If it becomes law, the number of immigrants arriving at the jails is expected to increase.
In fiscal year 2009, ICE held more than 380,000 migrants in detention. About 60 percent of them were detained by local law enforcement through programmes like 287(g). More than half had no criminal record, according to a report issued by a former official at DHS.
Last October, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced a review of the detention immigration system to prioritise health, safety and responsibility. Part of the plan includes expanding agreements with local authorities to identify undocumented immigrants that come into the jails.
In response, human rights groups across the country launched the campaign "Dignity, Not Detention". It denounces the expansion of detention and the increased role of local police in the incarceration of undocumented immigrants for minor offences.
"We don't feel there could be any true reform of the detention system without taking a look at the use of local law enforcement and the number of people being swept up by it," said Jacki Esposito, policy coordinator with Detention Watch Network (DWN), the group that is spearheading the campaign.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50546
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Immigrant Detained in Raid Sues Arizona Sheriff Arpaio’s Office for Mistreatment
By Valeria Fernández
Feet in 2 Worlds
February 19, 2010
PHOENIX, Arizona – Celia Alejandra Alvarez, a former undocumented worker detained in a workplace raid, is accusing the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office of negligence and mistreatment in a federal lawsuit. The lawsuit joins a long list of legal actions against Sheriff Joe Arpaio –currently under a criminal grand jury investigation for abuse of power– and comes less than a week after he defiantly announced he will train 881 of his deputies to enforce immigration laws.
Alvarez’s attorneys filed the case before the U.S. District Court of Arizona on February 11. That was exactly a year after she was arrested with 60 co-workers at landscaping contractor Handyman Maintenance Inc. (HMI) for working with false documents.
“I’m not interested in the money I could get out of this,” Alvarez, 32, told Feet in 2 Worlds. “What I want is to denounce the abuse, cruelty and inhumanity of the way in which we are treated by Arpaio.”
In the lawsuit, Alvarez alleges deputies wearing ski masks found her hiding, “lifted her off her feet, and slammed her face into a wall,” causing her injuries on her face, jaw and teeth. A deputy allegedly hit her hard with a clipboard for trying to speak to another detainee. During the three months she spent in detention, Alvarez claims that she didn’t receive proper medical treatment or medicine for the resulting pain.
“He is going to go after more people and that is why we can’t remain silent,” she said. “He should train his deputies so they know they are not supposed to mistreat people.”
Arpaio’s recent decision to escalate his immigration crackdown –his deputies arrested 35 people Tuesday– has become the target of criticism by legal scholars that argue he is operating outside the scope of the law in trying to play the role of the federal government.
In October, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) revoked part of the agreement –known as 287 (g) for the legal provision that permits it– that allowed 160 Maricopa County deputies to enforce immigration laws. But the sheriff has remained defiant ever since.
“We are going to continue our enforcement,” he said during a recent press conference. “My deputies can enforce the illegal immigration laws without the 287 (g) agreement.”
Arpaio also claims he can continue to use Arizona state laws to go after workers, which is what happened in Alvarez’s case.
The HMI sweep was part of Arpaio’s controversial enforcement of Arizona’s employer sanctions law.
The State Legislature passed that law to investigate companies that knowingly hire undocumented labor. But the Sheriff’s and Maricopa County Attorney’s offices have used it to arrest workers on criminal charges of identity theft for using false documents to work.
Alvarez, the mother of four U.S. citizens, worked under the false name of Francisca Perez Mendoza. She worked for three years at HMI, picking up trash for $6 an hour. The company had a contract with Maricopa County for over ten years: some of the services it provided included landscaping at county buildings, including Arpaio’s jails.
Through her cleaning job, Alvarez became familiar with the outside of the Estrella jail for women. She never expected that one day she would find herself inside its walls.
She describes the experience both as traumatic and humiliating.
She said on arrival she was forced to strip in front of male guards. She had to take off the garments she wore as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to put on the black and white stripes uniform used in the jail.
Alvarez regrets that she was separated from Daniel, her youngest son, who was three months old and breastfeeding at the time of her arrest.
“What happened marked me for a lifetime,” she said, “but it also hurt my children.”
Claims of mistreatment and negligence by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office have resulted in over $40 million in settlements and legal fees to victims and families, according to county records.
Another lawsuit filed last week by Armando Nido, a U.S. citizen, alleges sheriff deputies ran him over with a patrol vehicle during a traffic stop outside his home.
Arpaio’s office didn’t return calls regarding the recent lawsuits.
This is the second time the agency is sued in connection to the HMI raid. Last August, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit claiming that Julian Mora, 66, a permanent legal resident, and his son Julio, 19, had been improperly detained.
They both were driving towards the company, where Julian worked, when vehicles from the sheriff’s office cut them off 100 yards from HMI. The deputies zip-tied them and transported them to the site and made them wait for three hours, according to the lawsuit. They were not allowed to use the restroom.
ACLU has also sued Arpaio on behalf of U.S. citizens and a tourist who alleged they were racially profiled. Last week, a federal judge imposed sanctions on Arpaio’s office for destroying evidence in connection with this lawsuit.
Many things have changed in Alvarez’s life since the raid on HMI a year ago. On September, she pleaded guilty to one count of criminal impersonation of a legal worker. She was able to obtain a work permit as she fights a process to remove her from the country.
Now she works as an assistant nurse caring for an elder woman.
“It’s hard for me to forget that dark day in which I was arrested,” she said. “Many things have changed in my life, I really can’t stand the sight of seeing the sheriff’s patrols, but this also has opened the doors to a new life.”
http://news.feetintwoworlds.org/2010/02/19/immigrant-detained-in-raid-sues-arizona-sheriff-arpaio-for-mistreatment-in-detention/
Feet in 2 Worlds
February 19, 2010
PHOENIX, Arizona – Celia Alejandra Alvarez, a former undocumented worker detained in a workplace raid, is accusing the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office of negligence and mistreatment in a federal lawsuit. The lawsuit joins a long list of legal actions against Sheriff Joe Arpaio –currently under a criminal grand jury investigation for abuse of power– and comes less than a week after he defiantly announced he will train 881 of his deputies to enforce immigration laws.
Alvarez’s attorneys filed the case before the U.S. District Court of Arizona on February 11. That was exactly a year after she was arrested with 60 co-workers at landscaping contractor Handyman Maintenance Inc. (HMI) for working with false documents.
“I’m not interested in the money I could get out of this,” Alvarez, 32, told Feet in 2 Worlds. “What I want is to denounce the abuse, cruelty and inhumanity of the way in which we are treated by Arpaio.”
In the lawsuit, Alvarez alleges deputies wearing ski masks found her hiding, “lifted her off her feet, and slammed her face into a wall,” causing her injuries on her face, jaw and teeth. A deputy allegedly hit her hard with a clipboard for trying to speak to another detainee. During the three months she spent in detention, Alvarez claims that she didn’t receive proper medical treatment or medicine for the resulting pain.
“He is going to go after more people and that is why we can’t remain silent,” she said. “He should train his deputies so they know they are not supposed to mistreat people.”
Arpaio’s recent decision to escalate his immigration crackdown –his deputies arrested 35 people Tuesday– has become the target of criticism by legal scholars that argue he is operating outside the scope of the law in trying to play the role of the federal government.
In October, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) revoked part of the agreement –known as 287 (g) for the legal provision that permits it– that allowed 160 Maricopa County deputies to enforce immigration laws. But the sheriff has remained defiant ever since.
“We are going to continue our enforcement,” he said during a recent press conference. “My deputies can enforce the illegal immigration laws without the 287 (g) agreement.”
Arpaio also claims he can continue to use Arizona state laws to go after workers, which is what happened in Alvarez’s case.
The HMI sweep was part of Arpaio’s controversial enforcement of Arizona’s employer sanctions law.
The State Legislature passed that law to investigate companies that knowingly hire undocumented labor. But the Sheriff’s and Maricopa County Attorney’s offices have used it to arrest workers on criminal charges of identity theft for using false documents to work.
Alvarez, the mother of four U.S. citizens, worked under the false name of Francisca Perez Mendoza. She worked for three years at HMI, picking up trash for $6 an hour. The company had a contract with Maricopa County for over ten years: some of the services it provided included landscaping at county buildings, including Arpaio’s jails.
Through her cleaning job, Alvarez became familiar with the outside of the Estrella jail for women. She never expected that one day she would find herself inside its walls.
She describes the experience both as traumatic and humiliating.
She said on arrival she was forced to strip in front of male guards. She had to take off the garments she wore as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to put on the black and white stripes uniform used in the jail.
Alvarez regrets that she was separated from Daniel, her youngest son, who was three months old and breastfeeding at the time of her arrest.
“What happened marked me for a lifetime,” she said, “but it also hurt my children.”
Claims of mistreatment and negligence by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office have resulted in over $40 million in settlements and legal fees to victims and families, according to county records.
Another lawsuit filed last week by Armando Nido, a U.S. citizen, alleges sheriff deputies ran him over with a patrol vehicle during a traffic stop outside his home.
Arpaio’s office didn’t return calls regarding the recent lawsuits.
This is the second time the agency is sued in connection to the HMI raid. Last August, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit claiming that Julian Mora, 66, a permanent legal resident, and his son Julio, 19, had been improperly detained.
They both were driving towards the company, where Julian worked, when vehicles from the sheriff’s office cut them off 100 yards from HMI. The deputies zip-tied them and transported them to the site and made them wait for three hours, according to the lawsuit. They were not allowed to use the restroom.
ACLU has also sued Arpaio on behalf of U.S. citizens and a tourist who alleged they were racially profiled. Last week, a federal judge imposed sanctions on Arpaio’s office for destroying evidence in connection with this lawsuit.
Many things have changed in Alvarez’s life since the raid on HMI a year ago. On September, she pleaded guilty to one count of criminal impersonation of a legal worker. She was able to obtain a work permit as she fights a process to remove her from the country.
Now she works as an assistant nurse caring for an elder woman.
“It’s hard for me to forget that dark day in which I was arrested,” she said. “Many things have changed in my life, I really can’t stand the sight of seeing the sheriff’s patrols, but this also has opened the doors to a new life.”
http://news.feetintwoworlds.org/2010/02/19/immigrant-detained-in-raid-sues-arizona-sheriff-arpaio-for-mistreatment-in-detention/
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Felony charges filed against immigration protestors
By Mike Sunnucks
Phoenix Business Journal
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas has filed felony charges against immigration protestors involved in a minor skirmish with Phoenix Police at a march Jan. 16.
Thomas filed aggravated assault charges — a state felony — against the three protestors who poked at a Phoenix Police officer on a horse and threw a water bottle during the incident. The office pepper sprayed a small crowd during the incident, which occurred during protests against Sheriff Joe Arpaio's immigration raids and crime sweeps. Those sweeps were targeted against businesses suspected of hiring illegal immigrants.
Jeremiah Matthew Henry, 18, Sarah Grace Daniels, 23, and Issa A. Emadi, 26, were charged. Henry and Daniels are charged with poking sticks at the mounted officer. Emadi faces felony charges for tossing a water bottle at police.
The protesters insist Arpaio is unfairly targeting Hispanics in his immigration raids and crime sweeps. Arpaio denies wrongdoing.
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2010/01/25/daily3.html
Phoenix Business Journal
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas has filed felony charges against immigration protestors involved in a minor skirmish with Phoenix Police at a march Jan. 16.
Thomas filed aggravated assault charges — a state felony — against the three protestors who poked at a Phoenix Police officer on a horse and threw a water bottle during the incident. The office pepper sprayed a small crowd during the incident, which occurred during protests against Sheriff Joe Arpaio's immigration raids and crime sweeps. Those sweeps were targeted against businesses suspected of hiring illegal immigrants.
Jeremiah Matthew Henry, 18, Sarah Grace Daniels, 23, and Issa A. Emadi, 26, were charged. Henry and Daniels are charged with poking sticks at the mounted officer. Emadi faces felony charges for tossing a water bottle at police.
The protesters insist Arpaio is unfairly targeting Hispanics in his immigration raids and crime sweeps. Arpaio denies wrongdoing.
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2010/01/25/daily3.html
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Thousands protest sheriff's immigration efforts
By JACQUES BILLEAUD
The Associated Press
Sunday, January 17, 2010
PHOENIX -- Thousands of immigrant rights advocates marched in front of a county jail in Phoenix Saturday in a protest that was aimed at Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's immigration efforts and was marked by a clash between a small group of protesters and police officers.
Organizers say the protest was meant to show officials in Washington that Arpaio shouldn't handle immigration enforcement, and that Congress and the Obama administration need to come up with a way for immigrant workers to come to the country legally.
The three-mile walk that started in a west Phoenix park ended by afternoon at the Durango Jail Complex, a collection of five jails, where officials played music, including a record by singer Linda Ronstadt, to drown out noise made by protesters. Ronstadt took part in Saturday's protest.
Protesters chanted "Joe must go" as they approached the jail complex. One person carried a sign that said "We are human" and bore a picture of a lawman with a wolf's face. A family of five wore T-shirts saying "Who would Jesus deport?"
For his part, Arpaio said he wasn't bothered by the protesters and that they should be directing their frustrations at Congress because it has the power to change America's immigration laws.
"They are zeroing in on the wrong guy," Arpaio said. "They ought to be zeroing in on the president."
The demonstration was peaceful until police say protesters near the end of the procession started throwing water bottles at officers. Phoenix Police Lt. Pat Hofmann said officers used pepper spray as they tried to separate protesters from an officer who was trying to take away the bottles.
Phoenix police spokesman Sgt. Andy Hill said on-scene supervisors described a group of demonstrators purposefully disrupting the demonstration by assaulting several police officers and a police horse.
He said one demonstrator struck a police sergeant on the head and chest with a flagpole. Two others threw water bottles, possibly containing rocks, at other officers, but missed.
Hill also said a police officer on horseback was assaulted while her horse was mobbed, punched and pushed. The officer used pepper spray to stop the assault.
"Most regrettably, a nearby 2-year-old child was hit by some of the pepper spray," said Hill, adding that the Phoenix Fire Department was called to the scene to treat the girl. "I am told she was released and was expected to be OK."
No one else was seriously injured, he said.
Phoenix police said Saturday night that five people were arrested during the protest and taken to Maricopa County Jail. Four were booked on suspicion of aggravated assault on police. The other faces disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
Though the scene of the disturbance was cleared within minutes, the aftermath was chaotic. Protesters yelled obscenities at police officers in riot gear. One officer shook his pepper spray canister as he ordered people to keep moving. One protester wore goggles, and several others wrapped bandanas around their mouths.
Critics have accused deputies working in Arpaio's immigration efforts of racial profiling, which the sheriff denies. He says his deputies approach people when they have probable cause to believe they had committed crimes.
Ten months ago, Arpaio learned he was under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department for alleged discrimination and unconstitutional searches. He says the investigation was prompted by his immigration efforts, although federal authorities haven't provided details.
Since early 2008, Arpaio has run 13 immigration and crimes sweeps involving officers who flood a section of a city - in some cases heavily Latino areas - to seek out traffic violators and arrest other violators.
Arpaio's power to make federal immigration arrests was stripped away three months ago by officials in Washington, but he continues his immigration efforts through the enforcement of two state laws.
A federal grand jury also is investigating Arpaio and his office on allegations of abusing his powers.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/17/AR2010011700392.html
The Associated Press
Sunday, January 17, 2010
PHOENIX -- Thousands of immigrant rights advocates marched in front of a county jail in Phoenix Saturday in a protest that was aimed at Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's immigration efforts and was marked by a clash between a small group of protesters and police officers.
Organizers say the protest was meant to show officials in Washington that Arpaio shouldn't handle immigration enforcement, and that Congress and the Obama administration need to come up with a way for immigrant workers to come to the country legally.
The three-mile walk that started in a west Phoenix park ended by afternoon at the Durango Jail Complex, a collection of five jails, where officials played music, including a record by singer Linda Ronstadt, to drown out noise made by protesters. Ronstadt took part in Saturday's protest.
Protesters chanted "Joe must go" as they approached the jail complex. One person carried a sign that said "We are human" and bore a picture of a lawman with a wolf's face. A family of five wore T-shirts saying "Who would Jesus deport?"
For his part, Arpaio said he wasn't bothered by the protesters and that they should be directing their frustrations at Congress because it has the power to change America's immigration laws.
"They are zeroing in on the wrong guy," Arpaio said. "They ought to be zeroing in on the president."
The demonstration was peaceful until police say protesters near the end of the procession started throwing water bottles at officers. Phoenix Police Lt. Pat Hofmann said officers used pepper spray as they tried to separate protesters from an officer who was trying to take away the bottles.
Phoenix police spokesman Sgt. Andy Hill said on-scene supervisors described a group of demonstrators purposefully disrupting the demonstration by assaulting several police officers and a police horse.
He said one demonstrator struck a police sergeant on the head and chest with a flagpole. Two others threw water bottles, possibly containing rocks, at other officers, but missed.
Hill also said a police officer on horseback was assaulted while her horse was mobbed, punched and pushed. The officer used pepper spray to stop the assault.
"Most regrettably, a nearby 2-year-old child was hit by some of the pepper spray," said Hill, adding that the Phoenix Fire Department was called to the scene to treat the girl. "I am told she was released and was expected to be OK."
No one else was seriously injured, he said.
Phoenix police said Saturday night that five people were arrested during the protest and taken to Maricopa County Jail. Four were booked on suspicion of aggravated assault on police. The other faces disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
Though the scene of the disturbance was cleared within minutes, the aftermath was chaotic. Protesters yelled obscenities at police officers in riot gear. One officer shook his pepper spray canister as he ordered people to keep moving. One protester wore goggles, and several others wrapped bandanas around their mouths.
Critics have accused deputies working in Arpaio's immigration efforts of racial profiling, which the sheriff denies. He says his deputies approach people when they have probable cause to believe they had committed crimes.
Ten months ago, Arpaio learned he was under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department for alleged discrimination and unconstitutional searches. He says the investigation was prompted by his immigration efforts, although federal authorities haven't provided details.
Since early 2008, Arpaio has run 13 immigration and crimes sweeps involving officers who flood a section of a city - in some cases heavily Latino areas - to seek out traffic violators and arrest other violators.
Arpaio's power to make federal immigration arrests was stripped away three months ago by officials in Washington, but he continues his immigration efforts through the enforcement of two state laws.
A federal grand jury also is investigating Arpaio and his office on allegations of abusing his powers.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/17/AR2010011700392.html
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Technology and immigration: from a GPS system, to a texting campaign warning of crime sweeps
By Aurelia Fierros, LA Border and Immigration Examiner
The Examiner
January 4, 2009
Technology is now in all existing fields of life. The immigration phenomena for long considered as an issue tossed to the back burner of the U.S. political agenda, is no exception. Curiously, now that there is a more tangible effort to advance towards an immigration system overhaul, is when more devices and applications are being used in aid of undocumented immigrants.
From a cell phone that includes a GPS system that guides those sneaking into the U.S. to water reservoirs, so they don’t die dehydrated in the desert; to text warnings of immigration raids, for those already here. Whether this can be considered as humanitarian help or simply a crime is debatable, but the fact is technology is being used both ways: to help undocumented immigrants remain safe during their desert trek, as well as to catch them in the attempt. Law enforcement’s technology used in the border is another ball game. Too sophisticated to compare.
However, the latest report of technology usage for this matter came from Phoenix, where a local advocate for immigrant and civil rights, has started a text messaging campaign warning about crime sweeps by a high-profile Arizona sheriff.
Lydia Guzman, director of the nonprofit immigrant advocacy group Respect/Respeto, is alerting within minutes to the details of the sweeps, as part of an effort to warn Latinos and others about racial profiling by sheriff's deputies.
Phoenix Deputies have been accused of stopping Hispanics, including citizens and legal immigrants, for minor traffic violations to check their immigration status.
In his own defense, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has said his deputies do not engage in racial profiling, and that he publicizes his crime sweeps ahead of time. Referring to the text warnings Arpaio said the Respect/Respeto group is in favor of open borders and that in any case, such campaign is not interfering with the MCSO operations as the outcome of his raids often result in arrests of a “good number of people, including illegal aliens."
The sheriff added this group is walking a fine line between exercising free speech and breaking the law by helping immigration violators avoid detection, and possibly even warning human-smuggling organizations.
Controversial Sheriff Arpaio has conducted 13 sweeps since March 2008, arresting 669 individuals, about half of whom were held on immigration violations. Meanwhile, the texting campaign warning about Arapio’s crime sweeps will continue.
http://www.examiner.com/x-9270-LA-Border-and-Immigration-Examiner~y2010m1d4-Technology-and-immigration-from-a-GPS-system-to-a-texting-campaign-warning-of-crime-sweeps
The Examiner
January 4, 2009
Technology is now in all existing fields of life. The immigration phenomena for long considered as an issue tossed to the back burner of the U.S. political agenda, is no exception. Curiously, now that there is a more tangible effort to advance towards an immigration system overhaul, is when more devices and applications are being used in aid of undocumented immigrants.
From a cell phone that includes a GPS system that guides those sneaking into the U.S. to water reservoirs, so they don’t die dehydrated in the desert; to text warnings of immigration raids, for those already here. Whether this can be considered as humanitarian help or simply a crime is debatable, but the fact is technology is being used both ways: to help undocumented immigrants remain safe during their desert trek, as well as to catch them in the attempt. Law enforcement’s technology used in the border is another ball game. Too sophisticated to compare.
However, the latest report of technology usage for this matter came from Phoenix, where a local advocate for immigrant and civil rights, has started a text messaging campaign warning about crime sweeps by a high-profile Arizona sheriff.
Lydia Guzman, director of the nonprofit immigrant advocacy group Respect/Respeto, is alerting within minutes to the details of the sweeps, as part of an effort to warn Latinos and others about racial profiling by sheriff's deputies.
Phoenix Deputies have been accused of stopping Hispanics, including citizens and legal immigrants, for minor traffic violations to check their immigration status.
In his own defense, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has said his deputies do not engage in racial profiling, and that he publicizes his crime sweeps ahead of time. Referring to the text warnings Arpaio said the Respect/Respeto group is in favor of open borders and that in any case, such campaign is not interfering with the MCSO operations as the outcome of his raids often result in arrests of a “good number of people, including illegal aliens."
The sheriff added this group is walking a fine line between exercising free speech and breaking the law by helping immigration violators avoid detection, and possibly even warning human-smuggling organizations.
Controversial Sheriff Arpaio has conducted 13 sweeps since March 2008, arresting 669 individuals, about half of whom were held on immigration violations. Meanwhile, the texting campaign warning about Arapio’s crime sweeps will continue.
http://www.examiner.com/x-9270-LA-Border-and-Immigration-Examiner~y2010m1d4-Technology-and-immigration-from-a-GPS-system-to-a-texting-campaign-warning-of-crime-sweeps
Monday, January 4, 2010
Advocate uses texting to warn of crime sweeps
The Associated Press
Jan. 4, 2010
PHOENIX — An advocate for immigrant and civil rights has started using text messages to warn residents about crime sweeps by a high-profile Arizona sheriff.
Lydia Guzman, director of the nonprofit immigrant advocacy group Respect/Respeto, is the trunk of a sophisticated texting tree designed to alert thousands of people within minutes to the details of the sweeps, which critics contend are an excuse to round up illegal immigrants.
Guzman said the messages are part of an effort to protect Latinos and others from becoming victims of racial profiling by sheriff's deputies. Deputies have been accused of stopping Hispanics, including citizens and legal immigrants, for minor traffic violations to check their immigration status.
"Everyone is responsible for sending it out to their own networks, and that is how it spreads like wildfire," Guzman said of the text messages.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has repeatedly said his deputies do not engage in racial profiling, and he publicizes the details of his crime sweeps ahead of time. He said he suspects the real goal of the text messages is to help illegal immigrants avoid arrest.
"This little group of people is (in favor of) open borders, and they don't like what I am doing. That is the bottom line," Arpaio said. "But it isn't interfering with our operations because every time we do it, we still arrest a good number of people, including illegal aliens."
Arpaio has conducted 13 sweeps since March 2008, and deputies have arrested 669 people, about half of whom were held on immigration violations.
The sheriff said his opponents are walking a line between exercising free speech and breaking the law by helping immigration violators avoid detection. He said the texts are possibly even tipping off human-smuggling organizations.
Guzman said she sends the messages to a wide range of groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, Copwatch and various immigrant-rights groups such as Somos America and Puente. She concedes that some who receive the text messages likely use the information to avoid being caught and deported.
Andy Hessick, a constitutional law professor at Arizona State University, said sending warnings to people who might be subject to racial profiling would likely be considered free speech. But sending messages with the specific intent of warning illegal immigrants to help them avoid arrest could be akin to being an accomplice after a crime.
David Hudson Jr., a First Amendment scholar at the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University, said the messages are protected free speech because they are merely letting people know what Arpaio is doing, similar to publicizing DUI checkpoints and speed traps or flashing your headlights when police are nearby.
"That is not unlawful," he said. "It's the conveyance of truthful information."
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/special/immigration/6797608.html
Jan. 4, 2010
PHOENIX — An advocate for immigrant and civil rights has started using text messages to warn residents about crime sweeps by a high-profile Arizona sheriff.
Lydia Guzman, director of the nonprofit immigrant advocacy group Respect/Respeto, is the trunk of a sophisticated texting tree designed to alert thousands of people within minutes to the details of the sweeps, which critics contend are an excuse to round up illegal immigrants.
Guzman said the messages are part of an effort to protect Latinos and others from becoming victims of racial profiling by sheriff's deputies. Deputies have been accused of stopping Hispanics, including citizens and legal immigrants, for minor traffic violations to check their immigration status.
"Everyone is responsible for sending it out to their own networks, and that is how it spreads like wildfire," Guzman said of the text messages.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has repeatedly said his deputies do not engage in racial profiling, and he publicizes the details of his crime sweeps ahead of time. He said he suspects the real goal of the text messages is to help illegal immigrants avoid arrest.
"This little group of people is (in favor of) open borders, and they don't like what I am doing. That is the bottom line," Arpaio said. "But it isn't interfering with our operations because every time we do it, we still arrest a good number of people, including illegal aliens."
Arpaio has conducted 13 sweeps since March 2008, and deputies have arrested 669 people, about half of whom were held on immigration violations.
The sheriff said his opponents are walking a line between exercising free speech and breaking the law by helping immigration violators avoid detection. He said the texts are possibly even tipping off human-smuggling organizations.
Guzman said she sends the messages to a wide range of groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, Copwatch and various immigrant-rights groups such as Somos America and Puente. She concedes that some who receive the text messages likely use the information to avoid being caught and deported.
Andy Hessick, a constitutional law professor at Arizona State University, said sending warnings to people who might be subject to racial profiling would likely be considered free speech. But sending messages with the specific intent of warning illegal immigrants to help them avoid arrest could be akin to being an accomplice after a crime.
David Hudson Jr., a First Amendment scholar at the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University, said the messages are protected free speech because they are merely letting people know what Arpaio is doing, similar to publicizing DUI checkpoints and speed traps or flashing your headlights when police are nearby.
"That is not unlawful," he said. "It's the conveyance of truthful information."
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/special/immigration/6797608.html
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Arpaio deputizes 15 ICE agents
By Mike Sunnucks
Phoenix Business Journal
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said he deputized 15 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents this weekend even as his agency spares with the federal government over immigration raids.
The action allows ICE agents to enforce state and county laws in the field. The move comes after MCSO deputies turned in some of their federal law enforcement credentials after the Obama adminstration changed an immigration enforcment deal with Arpaio.
The previous 287(g) agreement allowed the MCSO to arrest undocumented workers only on immigration charges out in the field and during crime sweeps and business raids. The new 287(g) agreement only allows MCSO to charge illegal immigrants when they are booked into county jails on other charges.
The deputziing of the ICE agents, however, has some anti-Arpaio activitists wondering if there is something else behind the action. Arpaio continues to make immigration arrests despite the changed federal agreement exercising state laws against human smuggling and businesses hiring illegal immigrants to continue to arrest undocumented immigrants.
Arpaio said deputizing the ICE agents is in the best interest of public safety.
http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2009/10/26/daily1.html
Phoenix Business Journal
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said he deputized 15 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents this weekend even as his agency spares with the federal government over immigration raids.
The action allows ICE agents to enforce state and county laws in the field. The move comes after MCSO deputies turned in some of their federal law enforcement credentials after the Obama adminstration changed an immigration enforcment deal with Arpaio.
The previous 287(g) agreement allowed the MCSO to arrest undocumented workers only on immigration charges out in the field and during crime sweeps and business raids. The new 287(g) agreement only allows MCSO to charge illegal immigrants when they are booked into county jails on other charges.
The deputziing of the ICE agents, however, has some anti-Arpaio activitists wondering if there is something else behind the action. Arpaio continues to make immigration arrests despite the changed federal agreement exercising state laws against human smuggling and businesses hiring illegal immigrants to continue to arrest undocumented immigrants.
Arpaio said deputizing the ICE agents is in the best interest of public safety.
http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2009/10/26/daily1.html
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Sheriff Continues Tough Tactics Against Illegal Immigrants
By MIRIAM JORDAN
The Wall Street Journal
OCTOBER 16, 2009
In defiance of efforts by the U.S. government to rein in his tactics against illegal immigrants, Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz., on Friday launched a major crime-suppression operation in the suburbs of Phoenix.
The operation took place on the same day that the Department of Homeland Security announced that it had signed revised agreements that enable 55 state and local law-enforcement agencies to arrest illegal immigrants who commit serious crimes. The revised agreements are meant to assert greater oversight over a federal immigration program that enlists and trains local police to identify suspected illegal-immigrant criminals in jails and on the streets.
The program, known as 287g, was designed to target drug dealers, gang members and human smugglers. But it has been criticized for promoting racial profiling and serving as an excuse for local law-enforcement to hunt down illegal immigrants.
More
* Arizona Sheriff's Powers Cut
10/07/09
Mr. Arpaio's deputies will no longer have the authority to check the immigration status of people in the streets during their course of duty. From now on, their participation will be limited to checking the status of people booked into a jail, according to DHS.
"We ultimately determined his sweeps were not consistent with the priorities of the revised program," said John Morton, the head of Immigration & Customs Enforcement, a unit of the DHS, when asked about the restrictions on Mr. Arpaio.
But the man who calls himself "America's toughest sheriff," announced later Friday that his deputies would continue to round up illegal immigrants in the streets. About 200 deputies and posses fanned out across northwestern Maricopa County, in the vicinity of Phoenix, according to a spokesman for the sheriff.
"We arrest anyone who breaks the laws in the streets, including enforcing illegal immigration," Mr. Arpaio said. That includes "going out and making traffic stops" to find people in the country illegally. "It's the same thing we have always done."
Mr. Arpaio has said he can persevere with the backing of a state law targeted at human smugglers. According to the law, illegal immigrants can be arrested for smuggling themselves into the state.
Asked about Mr. Arpaio's defiant stance, Mr. Morton said that the 287g program "very clearly lays out the priorities for the program and the intention to focus on serious criminal offenders."
An estimated 11.5 million immigrants, mainly from Latin America, live in the U.S. illegally. The 287g program has been hailed by politicians and groups who favor tough measures, particularly deportation, to rid the country of illegal immigrants.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125572635599690761.html
The Wall Street Journal
OCTOBER 16, 2009
In defiance of efforts by the U.S. government to rein in his tactics against illegal immigrants, Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz., on Friday launched a major crime-suppression operation in the suburbs of Phoenix.
The operation took place on the same day that the Department of Homeland Security announced that it had signed revised agreements that enable 55 state and local law-enforcement agencies to arrest illegal immigrants who commit serious crimes. The revised agreements are meant to assert greater oversight over a federal immigration program that enlists and trains local police to identify suspected illegal-immigrant criminals in jails and on the streets.
The program, known as 287g, was designed to target drug dealers, gang members and human smugglers. But it has been criticized for promoting racial profiling and serving as an excuse for local law-enforcement to hunt down illegal immigrants.
More
* Arizona Sheriff's Powers Cut
10/07/09
Mr. Arpaio's deputies will no longer have the authority to check the immigration status of people in the streets during their course of duty. From now on, their participation will be limited to checking the status of people booked into a jail, according to DHS.
"We ultimately determined his sweeps were not consistent with the priorities of the revised program," said John Morton, the head of Immigration & Customs Enforcement, a unit of the DHS, when asked about the restrictions on Mr. Arpaio.
But the man who calls himself "America's toughest sheriff," announced later Friday that his deputies would continue to round up illegal immigrants in the streets. About 200 deputies and posses fanned out across northwestern Maricopa County, in the vicinity of Phoenix, according to a spokesman for the sheriff.
"We arrest anyone who breaks the laws in the streets, including enforcing illegal immigration," Mr. Arpaio said. That includes "going out and making traffic stops" to find people in the country illegally. "It's the same thing we have always done."
Mr. Arpaio has said he can persevere with the backing of a state law targeted at human smugglers. According to the law, illegal immigrants can be arrested for smuggling themselves into the state.
Asked about Mr. Arpaio's defiant stance, Mr. Morton said that the 287g program "very clearly lays out the priorities for the program and the intention to focus on serious criminal offenders."
An estimated 11.5 million immigrants, mainly from Latin America, live in the U.S. illegally. The 287g program has been hailed by politicians and groups who favor tough measures, particularly deportation, to rid the country of illegal immigrants.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125572635599690761.html
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Feds cut Ariz. sheriff's enforcement powers
By Audrey Hudson
The Washington Times
October 16, 2009
Homeland Security officials have agreements with nearly 70 local law enforcement agencies to oversee charges against illegal immigrants for violent or criminal acts that trigger deportation under new federal rules.
That includes the contentious Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz., who will continue to work with federal authorities when illegal immigrants are booked into his jail, but his agency will not be a part of the federal task force that makes some of the actual arrests.
As the deadline passed Friday for agencies to participate in the so-called 287(g) program, 55 agreements had been signed plus more than a dozen more are awaiting approval or still in negotiations, including participation by 11 new departments.
At least six departments have withdrawn from the program citing various reasons including budgetary constraints, said John Morton, assistant secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
No agencies in the District or Maryland are participating. In Virginia, the Prince William County Sheriff's Office, police department and Prince William-Manassas Adult Detention Center have renewed their agreements. So have the Manassas Police Department, Manassas Park Police Department, Rockingham County Sheriff's Office and Shenanodah County Sheriff's Office.
The program expedites the deportation of criminal aliens by identifying those already in jail to be deported after time served, and by training and enlisting local police officers to arrest those who pose a threat to local communities.
"These new partnerships are an essential tool for law enforcement to identify and remove dangerous criminal aliens from local communities," Mr. Morton said.
The new agreements are intended to curb reported abuses in the program wherein illegal immigrants were arrested for minor offenses, and amidst allegations of profiling.
Sheriff Arpaio will continue to participate in the jail program, where officers will identify aliens among his 10,000 prisoners who are eligible for removal.
Although his agency is no longer an official part of the task force, Sheriff Arpaio says he will continue to conduct raids to enforce immigration laws.
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/16/feds-limit-arizona-sheriff-enforcement-powers/
The Washington Times
October 16, 2009
Homeland Security officials have agreements with nearly 70 local law enforcement agencies to oversee charges against illegal immigrants for violent or criminal acts that trigger deportation under new federal rules.
That includes the contentious Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz., who will continue to work with federal authorities when illegal immigrants are booked into his jail, but his agency will not be a part of the federal task force that makes some of the actual arrests.
As the deadline passed Friday for agencies to participate in the so-called 287(g) program, 55 agreements had been signed plus more than a dozen more are awaiting approval or still in negotiations, including participation by 11 new departments.
At least six departments have withdrawn from the program citing various reasons including budgetary constraints, said John Morton, assistant secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
No agencies in the District or Maryland are participating. In Virginia, the Prince William County Sheriff's Office, police department and Prince William-Manassas Adult Detention Center have renewed their agreements. So have the Manassas Police Department, Manassas Park Police Department, Rockingham County Sheriff's Office and Shenanodah County Sheriff's Office.
The program expedites the deportation of criminal aliens by identifying those already in jail to be deported after time served, and by training and enlisting local police officers to arrest those who pose a threat to local communities.
"These new partnerships are an essential tool for law enforcement to identify and remove dangerous criminal aliens from local communities," Mr. Morton said.
The new agreements are intended to curb reported abuses in the program wherein illegal immigrants were arrested for minor offenses, and amidst allegations of profiling.
Sheriff Arpaio will continue to participate in the jail program, where officers will identify aliens among his 10,000 prisoners who are eligible for removal.
Although his agency is no longer an official part of the task force, Sheriff Arpaio says he will continue to conduct raids to enforce immigration laws.
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/16/feds-limit-arizona-sheriff-enforcement-powers/
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Immigration Hard-Liner Has His Wings Clipped
By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD
The New York Times
October 7, 2009
PHOENIX — The Maricopa County sheriff, who has drawn scorn and praise for a running crackdown on illegal immigrants in this city’s metropolitan area, said Tuesday that federal officials had taken away his deputies’ authority to make immigration arrests in the field.
The sheriff, Joe Arpaio, whose high-profile sweeps have been cited in the fevered debate over the need for an overhaul of immigration laws, said he had sought a renewed agreement with the Department of Homeland Security to allow both field arrests and immigration checks at his jails. But a high-level department official presented a document a couple of weeks ago allowing only for jail checks, Mr. Arpaio said.
That prompted an angry, rambling outburst from the sheriff Tuesday at a news conference at which he called Homeland Security officials “liars” and vowed to press on with his campaign, using state laws, against illegal immigrants. He said he would drive those caught on the streets to the border if federal officers refused to take them into custody.
Homeland Security officials declined to comment, saying they are still reviewing their agreement with the sheriff’s department and the other 65 agencies that participate in a program that allows local and state officers to make immigration arrests.
Immigrant advocates and some lawmakers have called on the department to end the program, known as 287(g) after the section of the 1996 law that authorized it, saying it has led to racial profiling and other abuses. Several advocates put out statements Tuesday expressing dismay that the department was keeping any relationship with Mr. Arpaio.
Last week, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus wrote to President Obama, urging him to “immediately terminate” the program because of the complaints.
A report this year by Congress’ watchdog, the Government Accountability Office, found that the program had not been closely supervised and that it had often led to the arrest of minor offenders instead of the criminals it was intended to pursue.
The Homeland Security Department has sought to mend it the program, not end it.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency that runs it, this summer announced an overhaul of the program and sought to reach new agreements with the agencies involved. Two agencies in Massachusetts have since announced their withdrawal from the program.
The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, with some 160 federally trained deputies, is the largest in the program and the most closely scrutinized by people on all sides of the immigration debate.
Mr. Arpaio conceded that the vast majority of the 33,000 arrests of illegal immigrants his office has made in the past two years under the agreement followed a check on the immigration status of people in jails. About 300 have been arrested in the field during “crime suppression” operations, he said. He called those arrests symbolically important.
“It has to do with public perception,” he said, noting reports that some illegal immigrants are leaving the area in part because of his deputies. “I think the bad guys apparently are leaving because they know they are here illegally. This is a crime deterrent program, too.”
In March, the Justice Department’s civil rights division announced that it was investigating the department, but Mr. Arpaio has conducted sweeps since then and he predicted that he would be exonerated.
The Maricopa agreement was also being watched to see if Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, a Democrat and the former governor of Arizona, would take the opportunity to rein in Mr. Arpaio, a Republican and one of the state’s most popular figures. Although they did not often clash publicly, their political supporters often lashed out at one another.
By the account of Mr. Arpaio and his aides, he signed a copy of a new agreement on Sept. 21, allowing for both field and jail arrests. But that evening, Alonzo Pena, a top Immigration and Customs Enforcement official, called from Washington and said he would be arriving in Phoenix the next day to discuss it.
After he arrived, Mr. Pena presented Mr. Arpaio another agreement that allowed only for jail checks.
Mr. Arpaio signed it, but it still must be approved by the county’s governing board. The board has been sympathetic to Mr. Arpaio on immigration matters, but he suggested the vote was far from a done deal.
Either way, he and his supporters vowed to press on.
Andrew Thomas, the county attorney, appeared with Mr. Arpaio to voice his support and condemn the “setback in the fight against illegal immigration.” Mr. Thomas said, “The fight goes on.”
He and Mr. Arpaio suggested that deputies could use the state anti-human smuggling law to make stops and refer suspected illegal immigrants to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, though it was not clear whether the agency would take them.
If not, the sheriff said, “I’ll take a little trip to the border and turn them over to the border.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/07/us/07arizona.html?_r=1&ref=us
The New York Times
October 7, 2009
PHOENIX — The Maricopa County sheriff, who has drawn scorn and praise for a running crackdown on illegal immigrants in this city’s metropolitan area, said Tuesday that federal officials had taken away his deputies’ authority to make immigration arrests in the field.
The sheriff, Joe Arpaio, whose high-profile sweeps have been cited in the fevered debate over the need for an overhaul of immigration laws, said he had sought a renewed agreement with the Department of Homeland Security to allow both field arrests and immigration checks at his jails. But a high-level department official presented a document a couple of weeks ago allowing only for jail checks, Mr. Arpaio said.
That prompted an angry, rambling outburst from the sheriff Tuesday at a news conference at which he called Homeland Security officials “liars” and vowed to press on with his campaign, using state laws, against illegal immigrants. He said he would drive those caught on the streets to the border if federal officers refused to take them into custody.
Homeland Security officials declined to comment, saying they are still reviewing their agreement with the sheriff’s department and the other 65 agencies that participate in a program that allows local and state officers to make immigration arrests.
Immigrant advocates and some lawmakers have called on the department to end the program, known as 287(g) after the section of the 1996 law that authorized it, saying it has led to racial profiling and other abuses. Several advocates put out statements Tuesday expressing dismay that the department was keeping any relationship with Mr. Arpaio.
Last week, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus wrote to President Obama, urging him to “immediately terminate” the program because of the complaints.
A report this year by Congress’ watchdog, the Government Accountability Office, found that the program had not been closely supervised and that it had often led to the arrest of minor offenders instead of the criminals it was intended to pursue.
The Homeland Security Department has sought to mend it the program, not end it.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency that runs it, this summer announced an overhaul of the program and sought to reach new agreements with the agencies involved. Two agencies in Massachusetts have since announced their withdrawal from the program.
The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, with some 160 federally trained deputies, is the largest in the program and the most closely scrutinized by people on all sides of the immigration debate.
Mr. Arpaio conceded that the vast majority of the 33,000 arrests of illegal immigrants his office has made in the past two years under the agreement followed a check on the immigration status of people in jails. About 300 have been arrested in the field during “crime suppression” operations, he said. He called those arrests symbolically important.
“It has to do with public perception,” he said, noting reports that some illegal immigrants are leaving the area in part because of his deputies. “I think the bad guys apparently are leaving because they know they are here illegally. This is a crime deterrent program, too.”
In March, the Justice Department’s civil rights division announced that it was investigating the department, but Mr. Arpaio has conducted sweeps since then and he predicted that he would be exonerated.
The Maricopa agreement was also being watched to see if Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, a Democrat and the former governor of Arizona, would take the opportunity to rein in Mr. Arpaio, a Republican and one of the state’s most popular figures. Although they did not often clash publicly, their political supporters often lashed out at one another.
By the account of Mr. Arpaio and his aides, he signed a copy of a new agreement on Sept. 21, allowing for both field and jail arrests. But that evening, Alonzo Pena, a top Immigration and Customs Enforcement official, called from Washington and said he would be arriving in Phoenix the next day to discuss it.
After he arrived, Mr. Pena presented Mr. Arpaio another agreement that allowed only for jail checks.
Mr. Arpaio signed it, but it still must be approved by the county’s governing board. The board has been sympathetic to Mr. Arpaio on immigration matters, but he suggested the vote was far from a done deal.
Either way, he and his supporters vowed to press on.
Andrew Thomas, the county attorney, appeared with Mr. Arpaio to voice his support and condemn the “setback in the fight against illegal immigration.” Mr. Thomas said, “The fight goes on.”
He and Mr. Arpaio suggested that deputies could use the state anti-human smuggling law to make stops and refer suspected illegal immigrants to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, though it was not clear whether the agency would take them.
If not, the sheriff said, “I’ll take a little trip to the border and turn them over to the border.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/07/us/07arizona.html?_r=1&ref=us
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Maricopa County immigration raid nets five arrests
By Mike Sunnucks
September 18, 2009
Phoenix Business Journal
The immigration raid on a Peoria landscaping and hauling business Thursday resulted in one arrest on-site and four in the field.
Kelli Bungert, manager of Berardi Enterprises, said the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office arrested one worker at the Peoria office and four others while they were working in the field or at other locations.
She said two of the suspected illegal immigrants the MCSO was looking for in its investigation no longer work for Berardi.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Thursday those detained face identity theft and immigration charges. Berardi has 20 employees and is located at 83rd and Peoria avenues.
Bungert said MCSO officers seized documents related to the workers and spent between 90 minutes and two hours at Berardi’s office.
Berardi is the 23rd business since January 2008 to be raided by the MCSO for allegedly hiring illegal immigrants.
http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2009/09/14/daily76.html
September 18, 2009
Phoenix Business Journal
The immigration raid on a Peoria landscaping and hauling business Thursday resulted in one arrest on-site and four in the field.
Kelli Bungert, manager of Berardi Enterprises, said the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office arrested one worker at the Peoria office and four others while they were working in the field or at other locations.
She said two of the suspected illegal immigrants the MCSO was looking for in its investigation no longer work for Berardi.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Thursday those detained face identity theft and immigration charges. Berardi has 20 employees and is located at 83rd and Peoria avenues.
Bungert said MCSO officers seized documents related to the workers and spent between 90 minutes and two hours at Berardi’s office.
Berardi is the 23rd business since January 2008 to be raided by the MCSO for allegedly hiring illegal immigrants.
http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2009/09/14/daily76.html
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Feds talking to illegal immigrants in sheriff’s office probe
By Mike Sunnucks
Phoenix Business Journal
September 1, 2009
The U.S. Department of Justice's civil rights investigation into Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office’s immigration policies has included interviews with illegal immigrants, some of whom were deported and returned to the U.S.
USDOJ also is relying on a federal lawsuit, Melendres v. Arpaio, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of a Mexican national who is legally in the U.S. and claims to have been harassed and unlawfully detained by the MCSO in 2007. The USDOJ is investigating whether the sheriff’s office unfairly targets Hispanics in its raids on businesses and crime sweeps.
USDOJ’s interviews involve Hispanics who are U.S. citizens or legal immigrants as well as illegal immigrants who were arrested by the MCSO, deported and then returned to the U.S. to testify, according to sources familiar with the investigation who asked not to be identified.
USDOJ spokesman Alejandro Miyar said Aug. 28 he did not know who investigators are interviewing and Justice officials did not provide additional information as of Tuesday evening.
Arpaio said Monday he did not know who the USDOJ is talking to in the case.
The MCSO stopped cooperating with the inquiry earlier this year saying it is politically motivated. “I don’t know what they are doing,” Arpaio said.
The federal civil rights investigation was started in late 2008, but was publicly announced with prodding from Washington after Barack Obama took over as president. Arpaio critics also had been pressing the USDOJ and FBI to look at Arpaio for alleged abuse of power and other matters.
The sheriff denies wrongdoing and says he enforces the law.
His attorney in the civil rights matter criticized the DOJ: “If it is true that DOJ is identifying illegal immigrants who have been deported already and had illegally re-entered the country for the purpose of interviewing them and building a case against Sheriff Joe, DOJ would essentially be prioritizing their political vendetta against Sheriff Joe in a civil case over the enforcement of criminal laws written to secure the border and those legally in the U.S. If any of the illegal immigrants are released or immunized in exchange for their testimony, I don’t think future victims will think DOJ’s political battle against Sheriff Joe was worth the cost,” said Robert Driscoll, a private attorney representing the MCSO in the civil rights investigation.
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2009/08/31/daily38.html
Phoenix Business Journal
September 1, 2009
The U.S. Department of Justice's civil rights investigation into Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office’s immigration policies has included interviews with illegal immigrants, some of whom were deported and returned to the U.S.
USDOJ also is relying on a federal lawsuit, Melendres v. Arpaio, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of a Mexican national who is legally in the U.S. and claims to have been harassed and unlawfully detained by the MCSO in 2007. The USDOJ is investigating whether the sheriff’s office unfairly targets Hispanics in its raids on businesses and crime sweeps.
USDOJ’s interviews involve Hispanics who are U.S. citizens or legal immigrants as well as illegal immigrants who were arrested by the MCSO, deported and then returned to the U.S. to testify, according to sources familiar with the investigation who asked not to be identified.
USDOJ spokesman Alejandro Miyar said Aug. 28 he did not know who investigators are interviewing and Justice officials did not provide additional information as of Tuesday evening.
Arpaio said Monday he did not know who the USDOJ is talking to in the case.
The MCSO stopped cooperating with the inquiry earlier this year saying it is politically motivated. “I don’t know what they are doing,” Arpaio said.
The federal civil rights investigation was started in late 2008, but was publicly announced with prodding from Washington after Barack Obama took over as president. Arpaio critics also had been pressing the USDOJ and FBI to look at Arpaio for alleged abuse of power and other matters.
The sheriff denies wrongdoing and says he enforces the law.
His attorney in the civil rights matter criticized the DOJ: “If it is true that DOJ is identifying illegal immigrants who have been deported already and had illegally re-entered the country for the purpose of interviewing them and building a case against Sheriff Joe, DOJ would essentially be prioritizing their political vendetta against Sheriff Joe in a civil case over the enforcement of criminal laws written to secure the border and those legally in the U.S. If any of the illegal immigrants are released or immunized in exchange for their testimony, I don’t think future victims will think DOJ’s political battle against Sheriff Joe was worth the cost,” said Robert Driscoll, a private attorney representing the MCSO in the civil rights investigation.
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2009/08/31/daily38.html
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
ACLU Sues Controversial Arizona Sheriff
By Willam Fisher, IPS News
Alternet
September 2, 2009
NEW YORK, Aug 21 (IPS) - The man who boasts he is "America's Toughest Sheriff" - and who is being investigated by the U.S. Justice Department for civil rights violations - this week added another lawsuit to thousands already pending against him.
The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Arizona are suing the sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, Joe Arpaio, and several of his 164 deputies for the illegal arrest and detention of a U.S. citizen and a legal resident.
The ACLU suit contends that Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) deputies racially profiled the father and son, Julian and Julio Mora, as they drove their pickup truck on a busy public road and illegally arrested and detained them, violating the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law and prohibition on unreasonable seizures.
Harini Raghupathi, an attorney with the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project, told IPS, "The unlawful arrest and detention that Julian and Julio Mora suffered highlights MCSO's pattern of blatant disregard for the fundamental protections of the Fourth Amendment" of the U.S. Constitution.
That provision bars unlawful searches and seizures without probable cause and a warrant.
"This country was founded on the freedom of individuals to go about their business without fear of being unlawfully stopped, picked up, or interrogated by the government. Here, we see the Moras were denied this most essential freedom," she said.
According to the ACLU, Julian Mora was driving to work when, without provocation, an MCSO vehicle cut in front of him forcing him to stop abruptly. MCSO deputies then ordered the father and son out of their vehicle, then frisked and handcuffed them.
The complaint says, "Although the deputies had no reason to believe that the Moras had broken any law or were in the country unlawfully, they transported the Moras to Handyman Maintenance, Inc. (HMI), where MCSO was conducting a raid that morning. For the next three hours, the Moras were held at HMI, where they were denied food and water and forbidden contact with the outside world. They were not released until they were interrogated."
It continues: "The ordeal was particularly humiliating for 66-year-old Julian Mora who, due to his diabetic condition, has difficulty controlling his bladder and had an urgent need to use the bathroom. MCSO personnel, however, rejected his repeated requests."
"Eventually, deputies escorted him outside where he was made to urinate in the parking lot. MCSO personnel later mocked his son Julio when he had to use the bathroom, because he had difficulty going with his hands still cuffed."
Nineteen-year-old Julio Mora, a U.S. citizen, says, "To this day, I don't know why the officers stopped us out of all the cars on the road. We were treated like criminals and never told why. I was very scared. I never thought something like this would happen to me. Now I know it can happen to anyone, citizens too. I don't think it's fair."
Civil libertarians say the latest lawsuit is emblematic of anti-immigrant sentiment in the U.S. - arguably most intense in states like Arizona that border Mexico - and of mixed signals coming from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), whose Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) unit has federal responsibility for enforcing immigration regulations.
Under the administration of former President Bill Clinton, Congress passed a comprehensive immigration bill in 1996. The legislation contains a little-known section called 278(g), which authorises local law enforcement to engage in raids on businesses believed to have employees who are undocumented, and to arrest and detain those workers.
During the George W. Bush presidency, use of 278(g) was aggressively ramped up. By August 2008, more than 840 officers in 20 states were deputised, and 70,000 immigrants detained. County sheriffs make up 62 percent of ICE partners.
In recent weeks, despite objections from civil rights lawyers and many law enforcement agencies, the Barack Obama administration's new secretary of DHS, Janet Napolitano, indicated her intention to expand this program, though she says it will now focus on illegal immigrants who are known to be serious criminals.
ICE asserts that the 287(g) programme is not designed to crack down on overcrowded apartments, day labourer activities, or traffic offences.
The Bush administration granted the largest and most powerful 287(g) contract to Sheriff Arpaio, despite the fact that jails under his supervision cost his county over 43 million dollars in death and abuse lawsuits.
Arpaio is accused of housing prisoners in tents, making them appear before media TV cameras wearing pink underwear, shackling them in chain gangs, and trespassing into neighbouring jurisdictions to unlawfully dump immigrants at the border for deportation. Traffic violators and day labourers are Arpaio's main targets.
Eleven agencies in the country have signed the new so-called 287(g) agreement, while 66 agencies operating under the old programme - including Arpaio's - were given 90 days starting Jul. 10 to decide whether they want to agree to follow the revamped programme.
The new regulations require Arpaio to clear plans for immigration sweeps in advance with ICE and coordinate the release of information to the news media.
Arpaio, who called the new programme "an amnesty for illegal immigrants", has not yet indicated whether he will accept DHS's new terms.
He said, "I'm not going to bend to the federal government, I'm going to do my job. I don't report to the federal government, I report to the people." He has been reelected multiple times.
But, even as he considered the new arrangements, Arpaio launched a three-day immigration sweep east of metro Phoenix on July 24. Deputies arrested 74 people; 25 of them were illegal immigrants.
The Associated Press reports that this sweep was the latest of 10 Arpaio has conducted in the last two and a half years. Many were held in heavily Latino areas in metropolitan Phoenix, with deputies stopping drivers for traffic violations.
The sweeps generated protests of racial profiling and have led to a Justice Department investigation of Arpaio. Arpaio said the people who were pulled over were approached because deputies had probable cause to believe they had committed crimes. The raids have not resulted in the conviction of any employer for an employer sanctions violation.
But even if Arpaio declines to sign on to the new DHS regulations, he has made it clear that intends to continue cracking down on illegal immigration by enforcing more limited Arizona immigration laws.
Arpaio has a long history of conflict with other law enforcement and judicial authorities.
As reported by William Finnegan in The New Yorker magazine, "A federal investigation found Arpaio's deputies used 'stun guns' on inmates strapped into restraint chairs; some have died in those chairs."
One lawsuit brought by a dead prisoners' family ended in an eight-million-dollar settlement after "a surveillance video that showed 14 guards beating, shocking, and suffocating the prisoners, and after the sheriff's office was accused of discarding evidence, including the crushed larynx of the deceased."
From 2004 through November 2007, Arpaio was the target of 2,150 lawsuits in U.S. District Court and hundreds more in Maricopa County courts - 50 times as many prison-conditions lawsuits as the New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston jail systems combined.
Arpaio is also named in a class-action lawsuit that centres on the treatment of pretrial detainees. The suit claims Arpaio is violating the constitutional rights of those detainees
http://www.alternet.org/story/142346/
Alternet
September 2, 2009
NEW YORK, Aug 21 (IPS) - The man who boasts he is "America's Toughest Sheriff" - and who is being investigated by the U.S. Justice Department for civil rights violations - this week added another lawsuit to thousands already pending against him.
The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Arizona are suing the sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, Joe Arpaio, and several of his 164 deputies for the illegal arrest and detention of a U.S. citizen and a legal resident.
The ACLU suit contends that Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) deputies racially profiled the father and son, Julian and Julio Mora, as they drove their pickup truck on a busy public road and illegally arrested and detained them, violating the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law and prohibition on unreasonable seizures.
Harini Raghupathi, an attorney with the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project, told IPS, "The unlawful arrest and detention that Julian and Julio Mora suffered highlights MCSO's pattern of blatant disregard for the fundamental protections of the Fourth Amendment" of the U.S. Constitution.
That provision bars unlawful searches and seizures without probable cause and a warrant.
"This country was founded on the freedom of individuals to go about their business without fear of being unlawfully stopped, picked up, or interrogated by the government. Here, we see the Moras were denied this most essential freedom," she said.
According to the ACLU, Julian Mora was driving to work when, without provocation, an MCSO vehicle cut in front of him forcing him to stop abruptly. MCSO deputies then ordered the father and son out of their vehicle, then frisked and handcuffed them.
The complaint says, "Although the deputies had no reason to believe that the Moras had broken any law or were in the country unlawfully, they transported the Moras to Handyman Maintenance, Inc. (HMI), where MCSO was conducting a raid that morning. For the next three hours, the Moras were held at HMI, where they were denied food and water and forbidden contact with the outside world. They were not released until they were interrogated."
It continues: "The ordeal was particularly humiliating for 66-year-old Julian Mora who, due to his diabetic condition, has difficulty controlling his bladder and had an urgent need to use the bathroom. MCSO personnel, however, rejected his repeated requests."
"Eventually, deputies escorted him outside where he was made to urinate in the parking lot. MCSO personnel later mocked his son Julio when he had to use the bathroom, because he had difficulty going with his hands still cuffed."
Nineteen-year-old Julio Mora, a U.S. citizen, says, "To this day, I don't know why the officers stopped us out of all the cars on the road. We were treated like criminals and never told why. I was very scared. I never thought something like this would happen to me. Now I know it can happen to anyone, citizens too. I don't think it's fair."
Civil libertarians say the latest lawsuit is emblematic of anti-immigrant sentiment in the U.S. - arguably most intense in states like Arizona that border Mexico - and of mixed signals coming from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), whose Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) unit has federal responsibility for enforcing immigration regulations.
Under the administration of former President Bill Clinton, Congress passed a comprehensive immigration bill in 1996. The legislation contains a little-known section called 278(g), which authorises local law enforcement to engage in raids on businesses believed to have employees who are undocumented, and to arrest and detain those workers.
During the George W. Bush presidency, use of 278(g) was aggressively ramped up. By August 2008, more than 840 officers in 20 states were deputised, and 70,000 immigrants detained. County sheriffs make up 62 percent of ICE partners.
In recent weeks, despite objections from civil rights lawyers and many law enforcement agencies, the Barack Obama administration's new secretary of DHS, Janet Napolitano, indicated her intention to expand this program, though she says it will now focus on illegal immigrants who are known to be serious criminals.
ICE asserts that the 287(g) programme is not designed to crack down on overcrowded apartments, day labourer activities, or traffic offences.
The Bush administration granted the largest and most powerful 287(g) contract to Sheriff Arpaio, despite the fact that jails under his supervision cost his county over 43 million dollars in death and abuse lawsuits.
Arpaio is accused of housing prisoners in tents, making them appear before media TV cameras wearing pink underwear, shackling them in chain gangs, and trespassing into neighbouring jurisdictions to unlawfully dump immigrants at the border for deportation. Traffic violators and day labourers are Arpaio's main targets.
Eleven agencies in the country have signed the new so-called 287(g) agreement, while 66 agencies operating under the old programme - including Arpaio's - were given 90 days starting Jul. 10 to decide whether they want to agree to follow the revamped programme.
The new regulations require Arpaio to clear plans for immigration sweeps in advance with ICE and coordinate the release of information to the news media.
Arpaio, who called the new programme "an amnesty for illegal immigrants", has not yet indicated whether he will accept DHS's new terms.
He said, "I'm not going to bend to the federal government, I'm going to do my job. I don't report to the federal government, I report to the people." He has been reelected multiple times.
But, even as he considered the new arrangements, Arpaio launched a three-day immigration sweep east of metro Phoenix on July 24. Deputies arrested 74 people; 25 of them were illegal immigrants.
The Associated Press reports that this sweep was the latest of 10 Arpaio has conducted in the last two and a half years. Many were held in heavily Latino areas in metropolitan Phoenix, with deputies stopping drivers for traffic violations.
The sweeps generated protests of racial profiling and have led to a Justice Department investigation of Arpaio. Arpaio said the people who were pulled over were approached because deputies had probable cause to believe they had committed crimes. The raids have not resulted in the conviction of any employer for an employer sanctions violation.
But even if Arpaio declines to sign on to the new DHS regulations, he has made it clear that intends to continue cracking down on illegal immigration by enforcing more limited Arizona immigration laws.
Arpaio has a long history of conflict with other law enforcement and judicial authorities.
As reported by William Finnegan in The New Yorker magazine, "A federal investigation found Arpaio's deputies used 'stun guns' on inmates strapped into restraint chairs; some have died in those chairs."
One lawsuit brought by a dead prisoners' family ended in an eight-million-dollar settlement after "a surveillance video that showed 14 guards beating, shocking, and suffocating the prisoners, and after the sheriff's office was accused of discarding evidence, including the crushed larynx of the deceased."
From 2004 through November 2007, Arpaio was the target of 2,150 lawsuits in U.S. District Court and hundreds more in Maricopa County courts - 50 times as many prison-conditions lawsuits as the New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston jail systems combined.
Arpaio is also named in a class-action lawsuit that centres on the treatment of pretrial detainees. The suit claims Arpaio is violating the constitutional rights of those detainees
http://www.alternet.org/story/142346/
Monday, September 7, 2009
Immigration raids often start with tips from disgruntled employees
By Mike Sunnucks
Phoenix Business Journal
September 3, 2009
It often starts with a disgruntled current or former employee calling a Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office tip line or a worker who has gotten into legal trouble sharing information on an employer.
The result can be dozens of armed MCSO deputies raiding a business, shutting it down for hours and arresting suspected undocumented workers.
A 2007 state law, designed to suspend or the revoke business licenses of employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers, has led to many employee arrests, but few bosses or businesses have been charged.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has raided 22 Phoenix-area businesses suspected of hiring illegal immigrants since 2008. Those resulted in 310 arrests on immigration, fake identification and identify theft charges.
The raids are welcomed by those who back Arpaio’s get-tough approach to illegal immigration, but others question how the sheriff’s tactics and targeting people whose only crime is illegally entering the U.S. for work.
Arpaio says the raids are conducted under the 2007 Legal Arizona Workers Act and a federal 287(g) agreement, which allows the MCSO to arrest illegal immigrants.
Arpaio said it is tough to prove businesses knowingly hire illegal immigrants who show fake IDs, but will arrest suspected workers during the raids. “It’s hard to hook the employer,” Arpaio said.
Maricopa County Attorney’s Office spokesman Michael Scerbo said the county is investigating two managers at businesses raided by the MCSO under the employer sanctions law: a former supervisor with the Golfland Entertainment Inc. water parks; and Raphael Libardi, owner of Aracruz International Granite, which imports and sells granite and marble slabs and countertops used in homes and commercial buildings.
Libardi was indicted in July on charges of illegally using the Social Security number of deceased man.
“We are not interested and I have no comment,” said Ive Dummer Libardi Lopez in response to a request for comment from Aracruz Granite.
Officials at Golfland did not respond to a request for comment.
Lock down
Arpaio said most of the business raids start with a tip from a disgruntled current or former employee who knows or suspects the business in question is hiring illegal immigrants. The MCSO has received more than 5,000 such tips.
The MCSO then checks Social Security and Arizona Department of Economic Security databases for duplicates, after which search warrants often are secured.
“We don’t just knock the door down and grab people cause they look like they are from Mexico,” Arpaio said.
Julie Pace, an immigration attorney with Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll LLP who represents businesses, agreed that many times disgruntled employees call the MCSO, but added the sheriff’s business investigations also originate from other sources.
“Sometimes MCSO’s investigations arise from a current employee who is arrested based on a DUI or outstanding charge and then is interviewed by MCSO about the company and hiring practices and that can cause an investigation,” Pace said.
“Raids by MCSO have lots of officers and search warrants that generally identify the names of the individual employees — current and former — whom they want to talk with, search warrants identify documents such as personnel files for the individuals names on the search warrant list,” Pace said.
The MCSO gives no advance notice of the raids and generally locks down the operation. No phone calls, bathroom visits, or even getting a drink of water are allowed. Officers often cuff employees who they arrest as being undocumented and detain those who are legal as they check them out, Pace said.
Arpaio said the raids require significant number of officers to cordon off the area and make sure suspects do not escape. “They are always trying to escape,” he said.
Some business owners privately acknowledge they tell workers they know or suspect of being undocumented to leave the premises if they see MCSO deputies. Informal communications “trees” also exist among immigrant communities to notify workers and others if there appears a raid appears to be under way.
No apologies to critics
The MCSO has more than 160 officers trained to enforce federal immigration laws.
Companies hit have included Royal Paper Converting Co., Gold Canyon Candle and Handyman Maintenance Inc. Several of the companies subject to MCSO raids refused or did not respond to requests for comment.
But the owner of a Scottsdale custom furniture business where 12 people were arrested in a January raid said the actions are misguided.
“We are not interested in this fight because we believe it is a lost out-of-control cause,” said Jerry Martin, owner and manager of the Scottsdale Art Factory which makes custom furniture. “Due to the sheriff’s egomaniacal polices he assumes it is OK to use his office to advance some personal cause, while hard working business folks make up the very tax base that allows him to exist try to survive in this economy.”
The MCSO raid on the Scottsdale business involved 45 officers. Arpaio makes no apologies for the number of deputies used in the raids saying they need to be prepared for various situations. He also makes no apologies for enforcing immigration laws and said investigations sometimes take months to develop.
“We need to have probable cause,” the sheriff said.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency also can conduct raids against businesses hiring undocumented workers. The waning days of the Bush administration saw some increased activity on that front, including threats of prosecution. The Obama administration has promised to step up such investigations.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said earlier this summer the administration wants to rework 287(g) pacts with local police, including the MCSO, to focus more criminal activity. Arpaio said he believes the MCSO and ICE will work out a new agreement.
Pace said businesses should audit I-9 forms, which list employees identification information and legal status. Companies should have workers sign forms further testifying they are legal to work in the U.S. and use the federal E-Verify database system to help determine workers’ status.
The business raids are part of Arpaio’s hard-line approach to illegal immigration, including crime sweeps and raids at day labor sites where undocumented migrant workers congregate. The U.S. Department of Justice is looking at whether such tactics unfairly target Hispanics and there are a couple of lawsuits against the sheriff filed by Hispanics caught in raids.
A Hispanic father and son are suing Arpaio in U.S. District Court claiming they were unlawfully detained in a February raid against a Phoenix landscaping business. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the suit on behalf of Julian Mora, 66, and Julio Mora, 19. The senior Mora is a legal resident of the U.S. and his son is a U.S. citizen, according to the lawsuit.
The Moras claim MCSO officers pulled them over on a Phoenix street in February, arrested them and transported them to the site of a raid on Phoenix landscaping business Handyman Maintenance Inc. Julian Mora was an employee of HMI at the time of the raid.
The suit claims the Moras were unfairly arrested because they look Hispanic. The pair were detained by deputies at HMI for three hours before being released. Fifty-nine immigrant workers were arrested.
The ACLU also is party to a federal lawsuit against the MCSO brought by a Mexican national who says he is in the U.S. legally. Melendres v. Arpaio involves MCSO’s treatment of Manuel De Jesus Ortega Melendres in 2007 in Cave Creek. Arpaio says the DOJ investigation and lawsuits are being pushed those who don’t like his immigration enforcement.
Immigration Raids
Raids on businesses by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and number of alleged illegal immigrants detained:
* Golfland Entertainment (Waterworld/SunSplash): 20
* Artistic Land Management: 31
* Gold Canyon Candle: 60
* Management Cleaning Control:6
* Scottsdale Art Factory: 12
* Handyman Maintenance Inc.: 59
* Cochran Painting: 8
* Lindstrom Family Car Wash: 14
* Royal Paper: 47
Source: MCSCO
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2009/08/31/daily51.html
Phoenix Business Journal
September 3, 2009
It often starts with a disgruntled current or former employee calling a Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office tip line or a worker who has gotten into legal trouble sharing information on an employer.
The result can be dozens of armed MCSO deputies raiding a business, shutting it down for hours and arresting suspected undocumented workers.
A 2007 state law, designed to suspend or the revoke business licenses of employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers, has led to many employee arrests, but few bosses or businesses have been charged.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has raided 22 Phoenix-area businesses suspected of hiring illegal immigrants since 2008. Those resulted in 310 arrests on immigration, fake identification and identify theft charges.
The raids are welcomed by those who back Arpaio’s get-tough approach to illegal immigration, but others question how the sheriff’s tactics and targeting people whose only crime is illegally entering the U.S. for work.
Arpaio says the raids are conducted under the 2007 Legal Arizona Workers Act and a federal 287(g) agreement, which allows the MCSO to arrest illegal immigrants.
Arpaio said it is tough to prove businesses knowingly hire illegal immigrants who show fake IDs, but will arrest suspected workers during the raids. “It’s hard to hook the employer,” Arpaio said.
Maricopa County Attorney’s Office spokesman Michael Scerbo said the county is investigating two managers at businesses raided by the MCSO under the employer sanctions law: a former supervisor with the Golfland Entertainment Inc. water parks; and Raphael Libardi, owner of Aracruz International Granite, which imports and sells granite and marble slabs and countertops used in homes and commercial buildings.
Libardi was indicted in July on charges of illegally using the Social Security number of deceased man.
“We are not interested and I have no comment,” said Ive Dummer Libardi Lopez in response to a request for comment from Aracruz Granite.
Officials at Golfland did not respond to a request for comment.
Lock down
Arpaio said most of the business raids start with a tip from a disgruntled current or former employee who knows or suspects the business in question is hiring illegal immigrants. The MCSO has received more than 5,000 such tips.
The MCSO then checks Social Security and Arizona Department of Economic Security databases for duplicates, after which search warrants often are secured.
“We don’t just knock the door down and grab people cause they look like they are from Mexico,” Arpaio said.
Julie Pace, an immigration attorney with Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll LLP who represents businesses, agreed that many times disgruntled employees call the MCSO, but added the sheriff’s business investigations also originate from other sources.
“Sometimes MCSO’s investigations arise from a current employee who is arrested based on a DUI or outstanding charge and then is interviewed by MCSO about the company and hiring practices and that can cause an investigation,” Pace said.
“Raids by MCSO have lots of officers and search warrants that generally identify the names of the individual employees — current and former — whom they want to talk with, search warrants identify documents such as personnel files for the individuals names on the search warrant list,” Pace said.
The MCSO gives no advance notice of the raids and generally locks down the operation. No phone calls, bathroom visits, or even getting a drink of water are allowed. Officers often cuff employees who they arrest as being undocumented and detain those who are legal as they check them out, Pace said.
Arpaio said the raids require significant number of officers to cordon off the area and make sure suspects do not escape. “They are always trying to escape,” he said.
Some business owners privately acknowledge they tell workers they know or suspect of being undocumented to leave the premises if they see MCSO deputies. Informal communications “trees” also exist among immigrant communities to notify workers and others if there appears a raid appears to be under way.
No apologies to critics
The MCSO has more than 160 officers trained to enforce federal immigration laws.
Companies hit have included Royal Paper Converting Co., Gold Canyon Candle and Handyman Maintenance Inc. Several of the companies subject to MCSO raids refused or did not respond to requests for comment.
But the owner of a Scottsdale custom furniture business where 12 people were arrested in a January raid said the actions are misguided.
“We are not interested in this fight because we believe it is a lost out-of-control cause,” said Jerry Martin, owner and manager of the Scottsdale Art Factory which makes custom furniture. “Due to the sheriff’s egomaniacal polices he assumes it is OK to use his office to advance some personal cause, while hard working business folks make up the very tax base that allows him to exist try to survive in this economy.”
The MCSO raid on the Scottsdale business involved 45 officers. Arpaio makes no apologies for the number of deputies used in the raids saying they need to be prepared for various situations. He also makes no apologies for enforcing immigration laws and said investigations sometimes take months to develop.
“We need to have probable cause,” the sheriff said.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency also can conduct raids against businesses hiring undocumented workers. The waning days of the Bush administration saw some increased activity on that front, including threats of prosecution. The Obama administration has promised to step up such investigations.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said earlier this summer the administration wants to rework 287(g) pacts with local police, including the MCSO, to focus more criminal activity. Arpaio said he believes the MCSO and ICE will work out a new agreement.
Pace said businesses should audit I-9 forms, which list employees identification information and legal status. Companies should have workers sign forms further testifying they are legal to work in the U.S. and use the federal E-Verify database system to help determine workers’ status.
The business raids are part of Arpaio’s hard-line approach to illegal immigration, including crime sweeps and raids at day labor sites where undocumented migrant workers congregate. The U.S. Department of Justice is looking at whether such tactics unfairly target Hispanics and there are a couple of lawsuits against the sheriff filed by Hispanics caught in raids.
A Hispanic father and son are suing Arpaio in U.S. District Court claiming they were unlawfully detained in a February raid against a Phoenix landscaping business. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the suit on behalf of Julian Mora, 66, and Julio Mora, 19. The senior Mora is a legal resident of the U.S. and his son is a U.S. citizen, according to the lawsuit.
The Moras claim MCSO officers pulled them over on a Phoenix street in February, arrested them and transported them to the site of a raid on Phoenix landscaping business Handyman Maintenance Inc. Julian Mora was an employee of HMI at the time of the raid.
The suit claims the Moras were unfairly arrested because they look Hispanic. The pair were detained by deputies at HMI for three hours before being released. Fifty-nine immigrant workers were arrested.
The ACLU also is party to a federal lawsuit against the MCSO brought by a Mexican national who says he is in the U.S. legally. Melendres v. Arpaio involves MCSO’s treatment of Manuel De Jesus Ortega Melendres in 2007 in Cave Creek. Arpaio says the DOJ investigation and lawsuits are being pushed those who don’t like his immigration enforcement.
Immigration Raids
Raids on businesses by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and number of alleged illegal immigrants detained:
* Golfland Entertainment (Waterworld/SunSplash): 20
* Artistic Land Management: 31
* Gold Canyon Candle: 60
* Management Cleaning Control:6
* Scottsdale Art Factory: 12
* Handyman Maintenance Inc.: 59
* Cochran Painting: 8
* Lindstrom Family Car Wash: 14
* Royal Paper: 47
Source: MCSCO
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2009/08/31/daily51.html
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Royal Paper Raid: Joe Arpaio Continues to Terrorize Local Hispanics with Janet Napolitano's Approval
By Stephen Lemons
Feathered Bastard
Thursday, Aug. 13 2009
Despite a shift by Immigration and Customs Enforcement away from indiscriminate worksite raids nationwide, and despite the fact that Sheriff Joe Arpaio continues to thumb his nose at the feds in various ways -- taping conversations between ICE and MCSO employees, refusing to cooperate with a Justice Department investigation, etc. -- ICE approved of the use of the sheriff's 287(g) authority in the MCSO's raid today at Royal Paper Converting Company in South Phoenix.
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Matthew Chandler issued the following statement to me, indicating that ICE greenlighted the arrests of "a number of" individuals at Royal Paper. According to an MCSO press release, 102 persons were targeted in the raid this morning. Forty-four were arrested, with 35 being booked into jail on suspicion of I.D. theft, and the rest being turned over to ICE for processing.
"During the course of a criminal investigation today involving identity theft and fraud," Chandler said in an e-mailed statement, "Maricopa County Sheriff's Office deputies requested authorization from ICE to use their 287(g) authority to arrest a number of undocumented individuals identified during the investigation. As the 287(g) memorandum of agreement allows the use of federal authority to arrest undocumented individuals during the course of a criminal investigation, ICE authorized the arrests, will take custody of the aliens from MCSO and will make custody determinations based on each alien's individual situation."
I called Chandler and asked if this meant that DHS or ICE had approved of this raid beforehand. He could not answer that question, and said he would get back to me with an answer. Pressed as to why DHS/ICE was allowing Arpaio to use his federal 287(g) authority in this raid, when ICE itself was pulling back on performing similar such worksite raids, Chandler protested that the Royal Paper raid was different.
"Our worksite enforcement protocol is on employers who knowingly hire illegal workers to circumvent the law," Chandler stated. "You're referring to a criminal case in this particular case right now."
Chandler said that ICE was still performing worksite raids as part of criminal investigations into employers, but he offered no recent examples of this.
Back in February, after an ICE raid on a Bellingham, Washington business that netted 28 persons suspected of being undocumented, DHS honcho Napolitano told Congress she wanted to "get to the bottom of this" and announced a review of worksite enforcement raids. DHS later announced a change in policy, focusing on employers instead of rounding up employees, as was common during the Bush administration.
Compare this MCSO Royal Paper raid today to the kid-glove approach ICE applied to the American Apparel clothing chain. In July, the company announced that it had been informed by ICE that approximately one-third of its employees "did not appear to be authorized to work in the United States."
There were no raids. American Apparel said they were cooperating with ICE, and that those employees who could not prove their right to work in the U.S. would be let go.
Other companies nationwide have been the subject of so-called "desktop raids" by the IRS, after IRS audits have shown workers to be using invalid or fraudulent Social Security numbers. One such raid took place in Vernon, California recently. More than 200 workers lost their jobs as a result.
Losing your job is bad enough, but being detained, and possibly prosecuted and/or being held for deportation is worse, obviously. Just take a look at the crying workers captured by Fox 10 News in the video embedded above. For every 44 of those not going home today, there is a family, and likely children, who will be without their mothers and/or fathers.
I asked local civil rights leader Sal Reza about the apparent difference in the way ICE is dealing with employers and employees nationally, and locally through Arpaio's 287(g) authority.
"Either the feds are being hypocritical or they've lost control of 287(g)." said Reza. "Either Napolitano has no authority, or she's actually encouraging this, one of the two. Either way, it looks bad."
The way I read it, she's encouraging this confusion and chaos. Why do workers in Los Angeles or Vernon, California merely lose their jobs, while those here in Maricopa County are crushed beneath the heavy-handed tactics of the MCSO?
The law should be uniformly administered. Employees suspected of being undocumented should be treated with the same humanity and respect in Arizona as they are in California, or elsewhere, where there is no Sheriff Joe.
Currently, this is not the case. As a result, the innocent children waiting at home for their parents suffer.
In his press release today, Arpaio seemed aware of the contradiction between DHS policy concerning worksite raids and his own way of dealing with things. And he needled the feds on the issue.
"President Obama and DHS Director Napolitano have a new policy which concentrates on going after employers who hire illegal aliens - not the employees who work here illegally," Arpaio observed in the statement. "I don't agree with their thinking. I will continue to enforce all federal and state illegal immigration laws."
http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastard/2009/08/joe_arpaio_continues_to_terror.php
Feathered Bastard
Thursday, Aug. 13 2009
Despite a shift by Immigration and Customs Enforcement away from indiscriminate worksite raids nationwide, and despite the fact that Sheriff Joe Arpaio continues to thumb his nose at the feds in various ways -- taping conversations between ICE and MCSO employees, refusing to cooperate with a Justice Department investigation, etc. -- ICE approved of the use of the sheriff's 287(g) authority in the MCSO's raid today at Royal Paper Converting Company in South Phoenix.
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Matthew Chandler issued the following statement to me, indicating that ICE greenlighted the arrests of "a number of" individuals at Royal Paper. According to an MCSO press release, 102 persons were targeted in the raid this morning. Forty-four were arrested, with 35 being booked into jail on suspicion of I.D. theft, and the rest being turned over to ICE for processing.
"During the course of a criminal investigation today involving identity theft and fraud," Chandler said in an e-mailed statement, "Maricopa County Sheriff's Office deputies requested authorization from ICE to use their 287(g) authority to arrest a number of undocumented individuals identified during the investigation. As the 287(g) memorandum of agreement allows the use of federal authority to arrest undocumented individuals during the course of a criminal investigation, ICE authorized the arrests, will take custody of the aliens from MCSO and will make custody determinations based on each alien's individual situation."
I called Chandler and asked if this meant that DHS or ICE had approved of this raid beforehand. He could not answer that question, and said he would get back to me with an answer. Pressed as to why DHS/ICE was allowing Arpaio to use his federal 287(g) authority in this raid, when ICE itself was pulling back on performing similar such worksite raids, Chandler protested that the Royal Paper raid was different.
"Our worksite enforcement protocol is on employers who knowingly hire illegal workers to circumvent the law," Chandler stated. "You're referring to a criminal case in this particular case right now."
Chandler said that ICE was still performing worksite raids as part of criminal investigations into employers, but he offered no recent examples of this.
Back in February, after an ICE raid on a Bellingham, Washington business that netted 28 persons suspected of being undocumented, DHS honcho Napolitano told Congress she wanted to "get to the bottom of this" and announced a review of worksite enforcement raids. DHS later announced a change in policy, focusing on employers instead of rounding up employees, as was common during the Bush administration.
Compare this MCSO Royal Paper raid today to the kid-glove approach ICE applied to the American Apparel clothing chain. In July, the company announced that it had been informed by ICE that approximately one-third of its employees "did not appear to be authorized to work in the United States."
There were no raids. American Apparel said they were cooperating with ICE, and that those employees who could not prove their right to work in the U.S. would be let go.
Other companies nationwide have been the subject of so-called "desktop raids" by the IRS, after IRS audits have shown workers to be using invalid or fraudulent Social Security numbers. One such raid took place in Vernon, California recently. More than 200 workers lost their jobs as a result.
Losing your job is bad enough, but being detained, and possibly prosecuted and/or being held for deportation is worse, obviously. Just take a look at the crying workers captured by Fox 10 News in the video embedded above. For every 44 of those not going home today, there is a family, and likely children, who will be without their mothers and/or fathers.
I asked local civil rights leader Sal Reza about the apparent difference in the way ICE is dealing with employers and employees nationally, and locally through Arpaio's 287(g) authority.
"Either the feds are being hypocritical or they've lost control of 287(g)." said Reza. "Either Napolitano has no authority, or she's actually encouraging this, one of the two. Either way, it looks bad."
The way I read it, she's encouraging this confusion and chaos. Why do workers in Los Angeles or Vernon, California merely lose their jobs, while those here in Maricopa County are crushed beneath the heavy-handed tactics of the MCSO?
The law should be uniformly administered. Employees suspected of being undocumented should be treated with the same humanity and respect in Arizona as they are in California, or elsewhere, where there is no Sheriff Joe.
Currently, this is not the case. As a result, the innocent children waiting at home for their parents suffer.
In his press release today, Arpaio seemed aware of the contradiction between DHS policy concerning worksite raids and his own way of dealing with things. And he needled the feds on the issue.
"President Obama and DHS Director Napolitano have a new policy which concentrates on going after employers who hire illegal aliens - not the employees who work here illegally," Arpaio observed in the statement. "I don't agree with their thinking. I will continue to enforce all federal and state illegal immigration laws."
http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastard/2009/08/joe_arpaio_continues_to_terror.php
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