Thread: Arpaio warns criminal migrants

Arpaio warns criminal migrants
Arpaio shifts his focus to illegals on probation

Judi Villa
http://www.azcentral.com
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 19, 2007 12:00 AM


Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has identified the next target in his crackdown on illegal immigrants: convicted criminals on probation.

Nearly 2,000 people on criminal probation are undocumented immigrants, Arpaio said Thursday.

"We're going to do something with it," he said. advertisement





The sheriff plans to track those immigrants to their homes or workplaces - using information they provide to the county department of probation, or records from the federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The latest initiative comes on the heels of the controversial arrests in recent weeks of undocumented day laborers and corn vendors. Those arrests, in Cave Creek, Queen Creek and Phoenix, are all part of Arpaio's 18-month campaign against illegal immigration in the county. Smugglers and the migrants who pay to be brought into the country illegally also have been targeted for arrest.

And Arpaio will help enforce the state's new employer-sanctions law when it takes effect Jan. 1.

"We're just hitting this problem from all different angles," Arpaio said. "This is just another angle."

But Hector Yturralde, president of the We are America coalition, an immigrant-advocacy group, called Arpaio's latest plan "ridiculous."

"He is overstepping his boundaries," Yturralde said. "This is getting out of hand.

"I don't find undocumented immigrants a threat to the country. They look like me. They speak like me. I don't see them as a threat. What I do see is, criminals out there that should be targeted. No, they're being left alone."

Yturralde said taxpayers would be better served if Arpaio poured more resources into catching violent criminals.

Arpaio's enforcement targeting illegal migrants began in February 2006, when he began specially training 160 deputies to enforce federal immigration laws. In July, he launched a hotline for the public to report information about undocumented immigrants.

His efforts have ratcheted up even as Valley police chiefs have resisted mounting public pressure to enforce immigration laws, saying that is the job of the federal government.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have said none of the operations conducted so far by Arpaio have violated the agency's agreement with the Sheriff's Office.

Arpaio said Thursday that roundups of undocumented migrants on probation will begin as soon as he can determine their whereabouts.

"They are illegally here, violating the immigration laws," Arpaio said. "It doesn't make sense to have felons out on probation who are here illegally"

I don't find undocumented immigrants a threat to the country. They look like me. They speak like me.

Another stupid ridiculous statment. Its like saying I don't find an axe murderer a threat, he looks like me and speaks like me so he must be ok just like me. STUPID STUPID STUPID!

irving TX NEEDS Shariff Joe!!!