Sheriff Arpaio releases tapes of deputies and ICE official
Reported by: Rudabeh Shahbazi
Email: RShahbazi@abc15.com
Last Update: 7/25 11:38 pm

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MESA-- Sheriff Joe Arpaio is now in a public battle with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, after saying the federal government ordered his deputies to release illegal immigrants caught in his latest crime suppression sweep.

ICE officials released a statement to ABC15 News, saying it was the Sheriff's decision to let them go.

Arpaio held a press conference Saturday, where he released three audio tapes of conversations he said were between his deputies and an ICE official during the sweep, in which the official orders the deputies to let illegal immigrants go if they did not commit a crime other than entering the country illegally, or they did not have a documented criminal history.

Arpaio said of the 25 illegal immigrants detained over the past two days, ten of those state charges brought against them, and had to be released as a result of those calls.

In one of the recordings, the deputy asks, "Yay or nay whether I'm going to take him or not?"

The ICE official replies, "The only way we can do that is if he has a criminal history, either an arrest or conviction in the US, or he has state charges on him. If you don't have that, then the only other option for 287G is to issue him one of those letters."

ABC15 obtained a copy of the letter, which is an order to appear at the Sheriff's Office with documentation. Sheriff's deputies called the letters, "ridiculous," saying there is no incentive for the people in question to show up.

Arpaio is under investigation by the Attorney General's Office in connection to complaints of racial profiling, and said he does not approve of the federal government's decision to order him to release illegal immigrants if their only crime is crossing the border illegally.

Arpaio said he was supposed to continue operating under the terms of his old agreement for an additional 90 days, but that the Department of Homeland Security is forcing him to institute the change early.

But he said regardless of the federal government's new orders, he will continue his crime suppression sweeps under state laws, and that he may even be able to use it to his advantage.

"It might be easier without having to be under the umbrella, with all their restrictions and policies," he said.

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