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Monday, January 29, 2007

Illegal immigration is local law's job

Monday, January 29, 2007


The late comedian Freddy Prinz made his career on the sentence, "It's not my job, man."

That certainly has been the attitude of many state and local officials on the immigration issue. But some local officials, such as Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, have fought for tools to arrest and call to account illegals who make it across the southern border into his county.

An excellent package of stories by the Associated Press this past week pointed out that an increasing number of state and local agencies across the country are asking the federal government to train local officers to make immigration arrests and speed up deportations.

Arpaio expects to win that power in a few weeks for about 160 patrol and jail officers in his department, which would mark the single broadest one-time grant of authority in that program.

The program does not allow local officers to go out solely to arrest immigration law violators. But it does allow them to enforce immigration laws when they arrest illegal immigrants on other charges and learn of their illegal status.

It's time for law enforcement officers in Yavapai County and its municipalities to seek the same training and authority * and then use it

liberally.

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