Thread: Advocate strikes back on Arpaio crime sweeps

Advocate strikes back on Arpaio crime sweeps

by Daniel González - Jan. 3, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

Every time word spreads that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is conducting one of his controversial crime sweeps, Lydia Guzman drives to the scene to see for herself.

The rumors often turn out to be false. But when they are true, Guzman, an advocate for immigrant and civil rights, springs into action, sending a wave of text messages to a wide network of contacts, who in turn forward the texts to their own contacts.

Guzman is the trunk of a sophisticated texting tree designed to, within minutes, alert thousands of people throughout the Valley to the details of Arpaio's crime sweeps, which critics contend are an excuse to round up illegal immigrants.

Guzman says the messages are part of a well-orchestrated effort to protect Latinos and others from becoming victims of racial profiling by sheriff's deputies. Deputies have been accused of stopping Hispanics, including U.S. citizens and legal immigrants, for cracked windshields and other minor traffic violations just to check their immigration status.

"Everyone is responsible for sending it out to their own networks, and that is how it spreads like wildfire. It just spiderwebs out," said Guzman, director of the non-profit immigrant advocacy group Respect/Respeto.

The texts serve as a warning to some to avoid the area and a call to action to others, who rush to the scene with police scanners and video cameras to document the action or with signs to protest the raids.

Arpaio said he knew Guzman was one of the leaders of the movement against the sweeps, but he said he was unaware until asked by The Republic of the scope of the text messages she sends out. He said it seems to him that the group is trying to help illegal immigrants avoid detection and 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."

Free speech or crime?

The text messages illustrate how innovative opponents of the sweeps have become since Arpaio began conducting crime sweeps in 2008. Since March 2008, Arpaio has conducted 13 sweeps, and deputies have arrested 669 people, about half of whom were held on immigration violations.

Guzman insists her goal is to combat racial profiling. Complaints from her and others about racial profiling by deputies have spawned civil-rights lawsuits as well as an ongoing investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division. But she concedes that some who receive the text messages likely use the information to avoid the area of the sweep so they won't be caught and deported.

Arpaio says opponents are walking a line between exercising free speech and breaking the law by helping immigration violators avoid detection. He says the texts are possibly even tipping off human-smuggling organizations.

Andy Hessick, a constitutional law professor at Arizona State University, said sending warnings to people that they might be subject to racial profiling would likely be considered free speech protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. 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 and, therefore, illegal.

"Let's say a murderer is around and you saw the police coming and you knew this person was a murderer and you said, 'Watch out, the police are coming,' and by doing that you helped him get away, and you said it with the purpose of helping him get away. That is just not OK," Hessick said.

'Rapid response'

On a Saturday morning in December, Guzman's cellphone started vibrating. She had a new text message from one of her sources on the lookout for crime sweeps.

"Arpaio set up @ park central," the message said.

A minute later, Guzman received another text: "U know why Arpaio is on Central & Thomas/earl?"

Guzman, who was attending a meeting nearby, drove over to investigate. When she arrived, she discovered that Arpaio's deputies had set up a command post in the parking lot of Park Central Mall off Central Avenue and Earll Drive.

Arpaio was conducting a sweep, but it targeted deadbeat parents, not illegal immigrants.

So Guzman texted her sources: "Arpaio @ Central and Earll serving failure to pay child support warrants. Not immig related."

Guzman checks on tips several times a week from sources looking for activity involving sheriff's deputies. The activity is often just deputies investigating car accidents or making routine traffic stops.

But when Guzman does confirm a crime sweep, she immediately sends out a text to her entire network of contacts, which she calls "rapid response groups."

She has 10 such groups programmed into her phone, 10 people per group, 100 people in all. The text messages confirming a raid include a hotline for people to call if someone they know gets detained or arrested during a sweep.

On Nov. 16, Guzman sent this message when she confirmed Arpaio was about to launch another sweep: "Immigration Sweep slated to start at 5 pm & will run for 2 days. Victims urged to call 1-877-977-8869. Sweep covers entire maricopa county!"

Questions of intent

Arpaio has repeatedly said his deputies do not engage in racial profiling, and he publicizes the details of his crime sweeps ahead of time. So he suspects the real goal of the text messages is to warn illegal immigrants.

"Every time we do a crime sweep, we advertise it. We don't keep it secret. All they have to do is read the newspaper or television and they know we are doing it," Arpaio said. "To tell everybody not to come back on the street, that is sad. That is sad because you know what, if they have nothing to hide, they should be happy that we are there to defend and protect them."

Although Arpaio is not happy about the texts, several legal experts said it is doubtful that those who send the messages are breaking laws. The sheriff, they said, would have a difficult time trying to prove that the messages are aiding and abetting illegal immigrants or hindering law enforcement.

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. It's the conveyance of truthful information," he said.

Lawrence Walters, a First Amendment lawyer in Orlando and chairman of the First Amendment Lawyers Association, said revealing information about undercover operations obtained surreptitiously would be illegal. But since the sweeps are held in the open and therefore are public events, publicizing them, even before Arpaio sends out a news release, would be protected free speech.

"There is no punishment that I could see," Walters said.

Hessick, the ASU law professor, agreed and said that based on the text Guzman sent Nov. 16, she is not breaking the law.

"That (message) on its face does not indicate one way or another what the intent is," he said. "It's not saying, here is the warning so that all of you who are subject to arrest can evade arrest. Nor does it have the intent to warn everyone here that they might be subject to racial profiling. If it were to be illegal, there would have to be a lot more evidence than just that text message."

Profiling accusations

Arpaio said the November crime sweep was aimed mainly at human-smuggling activity. About 200 deputies, posse members and reserves participated in the sweep, the second conducted by Arpaio after the Department of Homeland Security on Oct. 16 took away his federal authority to arrest immigration violators during street operations.

Guzman said she sent the text because the sweep was being conducted in an urban area where racial profiling was more likely to take place. She said she was not trying to warn smuggling organizations. Guzman said smugglers are dangerous criminals who frequently abuse illegal immigrants and "should be put out of business."

As a rule, she said, the group does not issue alerts when deputies conduct human-smuggling operations in rural areas off Interstate 17 near Anthem and off U.S. 60 near Wickenburg. Smuggling organizations frequently use those highways to transport illegal immigrants from Phoenix to other parts of the country.

"Those are human-smuggling activities. Those we stay out of," she said. "The only thing we are concerned about is racial profiling."

Guzman said she sends 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.

Annie Lai, an ACLU lawyer, said the messages are meant to let people know a crime sweep is taking place because "there have been so many people who have been harassed or racially profiled."

The ACLU has filed a lawsuit on behalf of five people, all in the country legally, who believe they were stopped by deputies because they are Latino. The organization is seeking to expand the lawsuit into a class action. Any racial-profiling complaints that are reported to the hotline in the text messages are forwarded to ACLU lawyers to locate people who could be added to the lawsuit.

Dennis Gilman, a member of Copwatch, a group that monitors police behavior, said that when his members get a text confirming a sweep, they set up a "command post" to monitor activity on police scanners and send observers to videotape deputies as they pull over vehicles.

Gilman said such videos have been turned over to the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice. The group wants Arpaio to stop enforcing immigration laws because members say it leads to racial profiling.

"We go into full-fledged mode once we confirm a sweep," Gilman said.

www.azcentral.com

Andy Hessick, a constitutional law professor at Arizona State University, said sending warnings to people that they might be subject to racial profiling would likely be considered free speech protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

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 and, therefore, illegal.

She needs to be arrested for aiding and abetting, and let the courts decide. IMO she's breaking the law just like her beloved illegals!

How do we shut these people up for good?

Advocate uses texting to warn of AZ crime sweeps

Sun Jan 3, 6:50 pm ET

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."

___

Information from: The Arizona Republic, http://www.azcentral.com
news.yahoo.com

Stupid Human Trick: Kinda funny and not very effective.

I mean really... There is a raid going down at... Run!!!!!

You know the text will arrive too late to matter.

Dixie