Thread: AZ: DPS: SB 1070 Reduced Immigration-Related Crimes

DPS: SB 1070 Reduced Immigration-Related Crimes
This week marks 1-year anniversary of law

Updated: Thursday, 21 Apr 2011, 10:23 PM MDT
Published : Thursday, 21 Apr 2011, 10:23 PM MDT

PHOENIX - This Saturday marks the one year anniversary of the signing of Arizona's controversial immigration law, SB 1070.

The main parts of the law -- that allowed officers to stop people suspected of being in the country illegally -- are being contested in court. But there are other parts of the law that remain in effect.

Now, one year later, the Department of Public Safety says it has made a difference in the border battle, even in its stripped down version.

IIMPACT is DPS' immigration task force. Agents work to get smugglers off the streets. This year, DPS Capt. Fred Zumbo says, there are fewer violent crimes.

"It's helped us to be able to do our job better," he says.

The portions of the bill that remained allow for more serious charges against traffickers, and Zumbo says that has been a big deterrent.

"Doesn't end up being a revolving door where you send a person back to their country of origin without any penalty, only for that person to come back and continue to commit crimes."

Captain Zumbo cites these stats as proof -- from January to March of last year, the task force busted 12 drop houses. During the same months this year, only three.

Last year agents arrested 33 smugglers. This year it's down to 12.

Zumbo admits the law may not be the only reason for this decline. The economy has made a huge impact -- and so has the federal government.

ICE agents have helped deal with illegal immigration, like Wednesday's big raid at Chuy's restaurants.

"It's kind of a perfect storm of events that have happened," says Zumbo. "The bad guys have learned that you don't really want to mess around in Arizona."

It is still not a perfect equation, but smugglers and cartels are getting the message. Zumbo says immigration violence has moved on to other states. IIMPACT receives the most calls from Houston, Denver and Las Vegas. These cities are now asking for our help in how to deal with the bloodshed.

http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/im ... -4-21-2011

That's good news! We know that stopping the violent crimes associated with illegal immigration is one of the goals. But the bigger broader goal is to get these people out of the country, whether they're committing violent crimes or white collar crimes or petty crimes or traffic crimes or just stealing jobs, educations, health care and other services and deflating the wages and shrinking the employment opportunities of Americans.

The goal isn't just to improve crime statistics. The goal is to get them out of here and keep them out.

Keep the pressure on, Arizona. And every state of our union needs to follow your lead and the US Congress needs to pass a law clarifying that states have the inherent as well as explicit right to enforce US immigration law to the letter and dime as well as establish their own immigration laws that parallel federal immigration law.

i think sheriff babeu might say otherwise as arrests and high speed chases in his county apparently have gone up