200 deputies hit Southeast Valley for 'crime suppression'
Reported by: Christina Boomer

Reported by: ABC15.com staff
Last Update: 12:59 pm


CHANDLER, AZ -- Reaction to Thursday's crime suppression operation was widely varied Friday.

Pinal County Supervisor Pete Rios issued a statement saying he had several concerns about the East Valley crime sweep.

Read the Supervisor's comments

Sheriff Joe Arpaio said he was "shocked and unpleasantly surprised" when three detainees were released under new Immigration and Customs Enforcement protocol.

Read the Sheriff's statement

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeau said in a Friday news release that he believes Arpaio understands that illegal immigration is the most pressing matter in the state. Illegal immigration is connected to many of our crime problems."

Read the Sheriff's statement

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio promised "zero tolerance law enforcement" as he began his 10th crime suppression operation Thursday afternoon.

It's a three-day operation that continues into the weekend.

In a rare move, Arpaio shared the spotlight at a news conference with another Valley sheriff.

Standing alongside the self-proclaimed "America's Toughest Sheriff" was recently-elected Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu.

Babeu spoke about the importance of enforcing all laws in Arizona to include immigration violations.

He struck a diplomatic note, arguing for people to move away from the highly charged politics of the immigration debate in order to see the bigger picture, which he said is the degree to which illegal immigration is linked to other violent crimes such as home invasions and kidnappings across the Valley.

Babeu said that the roads in his county are major corridors for illegal smuggling of people and drugs.

The 3-day so-called crime suppression operation in the Southeast Valley involves 200 deputies and posse members with the objective to "deter" crime.

Babeu said recently 10 of his deputies were trained under the Federal Immigration Program known as 287G.

This is the agreement that allows municipalities to enforce immigration laws.

Babeu said that is in part why his office is participating in this operation with MCSO.

It was a good chance to put his deputies' recent training into practice.

Babeu said that in the past seven months he has been conducting similar crime suppression sweeps in Pinal County to include the San Tan Village area.

Sheriff Babeu said the issue is not about racial profiling but about keeping our communities safe.

Earlier this month Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano announced changes to the controversial 287G program.

The changes were built into a new agreement between it and law enforcement agencies across the country.

According to a DHS news release, current partners will have to re-sign their agreements.

Sheriff Arpaio said those changes may prevent participating law enforcement agencies from deporting an individial if the only crime they commited was entering the country illegally.

Sheriff Arpaio said that the the Federal government told him his current agreement will not change for the next 90 days, but he's not too sure.

He told a gaggle of reporters at the news conference to "stay tuned" because he was uncertain how Immigration and Customs Enforcement would respond to the current 3-day operation.

In a typical act of defiance, the Sheriff said if ICE or DHS said his tactics would have to change due to the new agreement he will "fire" the federal government and continue his operations using state laws.

Meantime, the start of Thursday's operation landed on what happened to be the last full working day for Mesa Police Chief George Gascon.

Gascon will be leaving Friday for his new job as police chief for the City of San Francisco.

Gascon has been a vocal opponent to Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his practices and policies.

This is why some people were calling this operation a "farewell party" the Sheriff was having for Gascon.

When asked about the timing, the Sheriff denied even knowing what day Gascon was leaving.

However his recent tweet on the social-networking site Twitter may prove otherwise.

On Wednesday he wrote, "I wish the Mesa police Chief a safe move to San Fran and if I'm ever in San Fran maybe he'll invite me to an Italian dinner."

"Here's the key," explained Arpaio. "Are we going to be able to utilize our 287G hat to arrest illegals that have no crime, that have not committed a criminal offense other than being here illegally ... and I got a gut feeling that I we won't be able to do it anymore."

He said if his gut is right he will make the decision to "fire the federal" government and drop the agreement.

"Because the secret is we're still going to do the same thing. We have the state laws," and he said his office can still "enforce the federal laws without the oversight,the policy, the restrictions that they put on us because we happen to be 287 and have been sworn in to enforce the federal immigration laws," Arpaio said. "That is going to be the key, what will this sheriff do if that authority is taken away from him?"

He answered his own question by saying he will continue doing his job as he has been doing it "and we will see what ICE's (Immigration Customs Enforcement) response is whether they say you cannot enforce the 287G tonight you got them let them go --stay tuned."

On Thursday night MCSO spokeswoman Lindsey Smith said they expect an answer on Friday. The Sheriff had said he expects the current agreement to stay in place for 90 days.

As of 9 p.m. Thursday night Smith said they had arrested 35 people to include eight "illegals", one teenager for selling Meth, and five who were all arrested during just one traffic stop.


www.abc15.com