http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=5928338

Lawmaker seeks change in Arizona's immigrant smuggling law

PHOENIX -- A state lawmaker is seeking to prevent prosecutors from charging the customers of immigrant smugglers as conspirators under Arizona's human trafficking law.


The 16-month-old law targets immigrant smugglers, but Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas said those who paid to be sneaked into the country can also be charged as conspirators to the crime.

Critics said the law was never intended to be used against the customers of smugglers _ only the human traffickers they hire.

Few law enforcement agencies have made cases under the law, saying they don't have enough money or employees to enforce it.

Thomas, the only prosecutor to charge immigrants as conspirators under the law, maintains his interpretation was necessary to hold the customers of smugglers responsible for sneaking into the country. Arizona is the nation's busiest illegal entry point.

Democratic state Rep. Kyrsten Sinema of Phoenix said she was asking the Legislature to make the change because Thomas was misapplying the law.

"None of us every dreamed it would be used in a coconspirator fashion," Sinema said.

Thomas said Sinema's proposal (HB2270) would have a broader reach than just conspiracy cases and would prevent prosecutors from charging the customers of smugglers with other offenses, such as attempted immigrant smuggling.

"This bill would end a very successful anti-smuggling program in Maricopa County and potentially the rest of Arizona," Thomas said.

More than 160 people _ most of whom were the customers of smugglers _ were convicted in Maricopa County under the law.

The law was upheld by a county judge last year after defense attorneys questioned its constitutionality. Last month, the same judge who upheld the law also overturned the first jury conviction of an illegal immigrant charged as a conspirator under the law.