Thread: Silence could be golden for immigrants

http://www.azcentral.com/news/columns/a ... s0515.html

Silence could be golden for immigrants

May. 15, 2006 12:00 AM


The captured immigrants are scared, respectful of authority and honest. And that's what's getting them arrested.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has his posse out looking for smuggled migrants. And Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas is willing to prosecute them under the conspiracy statute. Both men are getting a lot of political mileage out of it.

But the ride will last only as long as the immigrants themselves allow it.

The arrests and prosecutions depend entirely on the statements made by them. Police need to have evidence that the smuggled immigrants paid someone for their transportation into the country. That evidence, in these cases, comes only from the migrants themselves.

If they refuse to talk money, there's no arrest.

That simple truth is documented in the Sheriff's Office report on the first group of migrants arrested for conspiracy.

The report shows that there were 54 men and women pulled out of two vans stopped in the desert southwest of Phoenix on March 2.

Most, according to the report, had Montezuma's Revenge of the mouth. Two days walking in the desert appears to make one chatty.

The migrants volunteered details about where they crossed the border, how much they paid, and who they were going to meet at their destination. One man, who was headed to Milwaukee, even offered up the name of a man there who sells fake documents.

All those people were arrested and face felony charges of conspiring in their own smuggling.

But two men zipped their parched lips. And, by doing so, escaped jail.

A 35-year-old man, named Manuel Ramirez Razo, told sheriff's deputies that he was from Guanajuato, Mexico. But he said he crossed the border on his own.

"He said he did not make arrangements with anyone," the report reads. "He said he did not pay or owe anyone."

Similarly, a man named Joel Peralta Mendoza told deputies he "talked to people on the street" to find out how to cross the border. He said he was headed to Phoenix, but he did not mention paying anyone for the ride in the furniture truck.

Both men were turned over to federal immigration authorities for deportation.

Meaning both are now back in Mexico.

Well, at least they were back in Mexico. By now, for all we know, they could have crossed again and now are at work washing dishes in some restaurant or framing houses at some construction site.

One place they definitely are not is the Fourth Avenue Jail, being kept as trophies in politicians' efforts to appear tough on illegal immigration.

Since this first arrest, there have been at least seven more busts, resulting in over 140 arrests under the conspiracy statute.

Arpaio has been on hand to watch most of them get checked into his jail. Thomas holds court in news conferences about how "if the feds don't have the fortitude to (prosecute the smuggled) in their cases, we'll do it in ours."

But none of those people would be in custody if the migrants had taken the translated words from the Miranda warning to heart: You have the right to remain silent.

If they had, Thomas and Arpaio would be largely silent as well.


Reach Ruelas at (602) 444-8473 or richard.ruelas@arizonarepublic.com.

Yet another loophole.

Am I understanding this correctly? I'm confused.

They can come here ILLEGALY, break our laws, GET TAX PAYER FUNDED EDUCATION, MEDICAL, FOOD STAMPS, ETC. ETC.

But...........

they shouldn't have to take MIRANDA RIGHTS? Because why? They don't understand them? HUH?

They sure know how to get Medical when they need it. Sure know how to work the freebie system.

What's not adding up here?

Did I misread this? {I know I'm tired, butz]