Thread: DPS Could Join Feds to Corral Smugglers

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... ano07.html

DPS could join feds to corral smugglers
Chip Scutari
The Arizona Republic
Jul. 7, 2005 12:00 AM

Arizona could soon be the first state in the nation to let Highway Patrol officers team up with federal Border Patrol agents to stifle human smuggling and drug trafficking.

The new illegal-immigration enforcement squad would focus on the Phoenix area. Meanwhile, the state will start putting high-tech cameras at the Arizona-Mexico border to help nab stolen vehicles that may be part of immigrant smuggling operations, a pervasive problem in the state.

The moves are part of Gov. Janet Napolitano's effort to stem the violence of the human smuggling trade, which uses Phoenix as a hub of its activity. They come less than a week before Napolitano's immigration summit Tuesday in Flagstaff, where local and federal law enforcement officials are expected to develop proposals for cracking down on crime related to illegal immigration.

Napolitano will not be at the summit, saying she wants law enforcement experts to come back to her with recommendations. Despite Republicans' skepticism, Napolitano said Wednesday that Arizona is taking the lead in the nation with its plan to team up Department of Public Safety officers with Border Patrol agents.

"I don't know of any other state that has made this kind of offer," Napolitano said. "But I don't know of any other state that has as great a need as we do right now. This will let local police officers continue doing the job the taxpayers are paying them to do."

The majority of the 1.1 million undocumented immigrant arrests along the Southwestern border last year were reported in Arizona, which shares 389 miles of border with Mexico. The steady flow over the southern border through Arizona's deserts and ranch lands has transformed Phoenix into a smuggling hub that generates more than $300 million each year, according to the state Attorney General's Office.

Napolitano's plan includes:


• Twelve DPS officers who will work with law enforcement agencies to cut down on the number of "catch and release" incidents. The final details of the state-federal partnership still have to be worked out.


• High-tech cameras at the Mexican border to help spot stolen cars that may be involved with human or drug trafficking. Authorities don't want to tell how many cameras will be installed, citing security reasons.


• A three-person undercover unit that will target individuals who sell or make fake identifications, which are used by undocumented immigrants.

Republican leaders said the governor's proposals reek of political opportunism because she derailed major immigration-related bills during the legislative session. Her vetoes angered some Arizonans who sought to build on the momentum generated by passage of the anti-illegal immigration measure Proposition 200. Specifically, Republicans said, Napolitano vetoed a Republican-backed bill authorizing police officers to investigate, arrest, detain or deport undocumented immigrants.

Senate President Ken Bennett said Napolitano's efforts are cosmetic and politically timed.

"Let's see, there were 580,000 illegal aliens arrested in Arizona last year," Bennett said. "This is like holding back the Mississippi with a toothpick. But I'm glad she's seen the light. This is an effort to appear as though you're trying to do something because the politics of the day are exploding."

Ron Sanders, former chief of the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector, said he had been disappointed in Napolitano's earlier efforts to fight illegal immigration. But he said the idea of state and federal law enforcement teaming up to fight crime related to illegal immigration is long overdue.

"To be honest, I didn't think (Napolitano) was doing much," said Sanders, who headed the busiest Border Patrol sector in the nation for illegal immigration until retiring in 1999. "I finally think she's realizing the cost of the drug problem and the illegal alien problem."

Napolitano's illegal-immigration crackdown includes stings by three undercover agents who will target human smuggling by focusing on individuals who make or sell fake IDs for undocumented immigrants.

The enforcement squad, which needs a final approval from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, would team 12 DPS officers with Border Patrol officers who are based in Phoenix. The still-evolving plan is for them to cover a 60-mile radius that includes Maricopa, Pinal and Gila counties.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has agreed to provide space for undocumented immigrants who are caught by the DPS enforcement squad. Then, the immigrants would either be deported or prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Napolitano said the new DPS squad would cut down on incidents where local police have to "catch and release" undocumented immigrants because understaffed federal authorities can't take them into custody.

The squad, made up of 12 two-person teams, would work until the end of the year and then be assessed.

"We want to get it going and see how it's working," Napolitano said. "If it's really working, then we may go to Legislature and say, 'OK, let's talk turkey about the money it will take for DPS to do this.' "

She said money is being reallocated so those 12 positions would be filled.

Illegal immigration could be the wedge issue that conservatives have been looking for to hurt Napolitano in next year's gubernatorial campaign.

"This will be the issue in the governor's race, which is why she is trying to put up a facade about caring about it all of a sudden," said Bennett, who is considering a run against Napolitano in 2006.

The car-theft initiative will be paid for with federal dollars and is part of a partnership with Sonora. Sanders said using cameras to help spot stolen vehicles will be "a good tool" because Arizona is consistently tops in the nation for auto theft, much of it tied to human smuggling and drug trafficking. Smugglers often pack the trunks of stolen cars with people, which have led to deaths in the desert heat.

Last month, Napolitano joined with her counterpart in Sonora to more aggressively go after coyotes and drug traffickers.

The joint plan is designed to strengthen Arizona's homeland security anti-terrorism efforts by focusing primarily on smugglers of immigrants from countries other than Mexico.



Reporter Robbie Sherwood contributed to this article.

(cough, clearing throat, now spitting)

Now that I can speak....WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS WOMAN?

12 dps agents and some high-tech cameras for a 389 mile border 24/7/365? THIS is this woman's big "we're the first one to do this in the nation" as if she's doing something worth mentioning?

THIS would be laughable....if it were not so blatantly tragic in its nothingness.