Arpaio, others blast sanctuary city policies during Senate hearing
Posted on Saturday, May 23 @ 09:55:30 EDT
Topic: State Laws Immigration illegal legal
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 Arpaio, others blast ‘sanctuary city’ policies during Senate hearing
May 22, 2009
By Jeremy Duda
With several of its members pushing for legislation that would eliminate so-called “sanctuary city” policies in Arizona, the Senate Appropriations Committee heard hours of testimony on why some of the state’s most prominent law enforcement officials believe such policies are contributing to an epidemic of crime.
The May 21 hearing featured testimony from some of the most vocal opponents of illegal immigration in Arizona’s law enforcement community, including Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu and Phoenix Law Enforcement Association President Mark Spencer.
TOPICS: Illegal Immigration, illegal immigrants, legislation, sanctuary city, Arizona, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio
Sen. Russell Pearce, the committee’s chairman, is sponsoring a bill that would prohibit state and local governments in Arizona from passing laws that limit enforcement of federal immigration laws.
Sen. Al Melvin, a Republican from Tucson, cited legislation such as Arizona’s employer-sanctions and human-smuggling laws, as examples of ways the state can take the fight against illegal immigration into its own hands.
“For far too long, well over 20 years, people have been pointing the finger at Washington and blaming D.C. for all of the problems related to illegal immigration,” Melvin said. “In fact, I think the founders of the country expected each state to stand up on its own hind legs and take care of business. With those two pieces of legislation, I think we’ve proven to the rest of the country that we can make a difference at the local and state level.”
Spencer testified about a poll of PLEA members that showed the majority support policies that would more effectively allow them to inquire about and investigate the immigration status of the people they come across in the line of duty. Eight of 10 members, he said, believed Phoenix Police Department policies were detrimental to the community and to law enforcement officers.
Spencer said Phoenix, which has earned a reputation as the kidnapping capital of the United States due to the activities of drug traffickers and illegal immigrant smugglers, experiences about one kidnapping per day. He recited survey comments from PLEA members who felt illegal immigrants committed a disproportionate amount of crime, from drunken driving offenses to murders.
“Our members clearly saw a connection between illegal immigration and calls for service,” Spencer said.
Much of the testimony focused on victims of crimes committed by illegal immigrants. Spencer told the story of a Phoenix man who hired an illegal immigrant two months ago to install an air-conditioning unit in his home, only to be robbed at gunpoint of several rifles and his truck, as well as the air conditioner.
Thomas spoke of an 18-year-old woman who was kidnapped at gunpoint from her home in 2008 and held for four days. And several people mentioned Phoenix Police Officer Nick Erfle, who was shot and killed by an illegal immigrant in 2007.
Arpaio echoed Melvin’s sentiments.
“Senator Melvin, you took the words right out of my mouth,” he said. “It’s always simple to blame the feds. … But you can’t blame the federal government when you have state laws.”
Arpaio said he is the only sheriff in the state who is fully enforcing the landmark 2005 human smuggling law, under which illegal immigrants can be prosecuted as accomplices to the coyotes, or immigrant traffickers, who smuggle them into the country. His is the only sheriff’s department in Arizona that is doing so, Arpaio said, because it has a county attorney who is willing to prosecute the cases.
“We’re the only ones doing that, which is sad. There’s a state law that has teeth in it,” Arpaio said.
Babeu said the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office is stepping up enforcement of illegal immigration laws. Without funding from the state or federal government, he said, the department has put together a human-smuggling team.
Babeu also said he is working more closely with federal agencies such as Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and told the committee that three of his deputies are being certified under the federal 287(g) program, which allows local enforcement of federal immigration laws.
“We can help mitigate and address this issue,” said Babeu, who took office in January. “What have we done differently? We’re enforcing the law, that when we come in contact (with illegal aliens) deputies are clearly given guidance from their commander, from their sheriff, that people aren’t to be let go … as oftentimes has been the case.”
Pearce suggested that Babeu apply for funding from the state’s Gang and Immigration Intelligence Team Enforcement Mission, a multi-agency task force. Babeu said he will do so, and said his department has already applied for more than
$7 million in grant money from the state and federal governments.
Sen. Sylvia Allen asked Thomas his thoughts on a recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that illegal immigrants who use fake identification cannot be prosecuted on identity theft charges unless they knew at the time that they were using another person’s Social Security or other identification numbers instead of fictitious information.
Thomas said he was not pleased, but that the court was doing its job in interpreting federal law. He said he was grateful that Arizona passed its own laws on the subject.
“While it was a disappointing decision from the U.S. Supreme Court, it was an affirmation of why we need state and local law enforcement efforts to deal with illegal immigration, because we still have our state law that we can use and will continue to use,” Thomas said.
The Senate Appropriations Committee includes a number of supporters of more stringent enforcement of illegal immigration laws, including Pearce, Melvin, Allen, Ron Gould and Jack Harper, who co-sponsored Pearce’s bill, S1175. Pearce said the hearing was intended to hold accountable law enforcement and elected officials who favor sanctuary city policies. He said such officials are essentially complicit in myriad crimes committed by illegal immigrants, which he equated to domestic terrorism.
“We have an inherent authority to enforce these laws. We don’t need a permission slip from the federal government,” Pearce said. “I believe these officials … ought to be removed from office.”
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