Thursday, September 3, 2009, 6:00am MST | Modified: Thursday, September 3, 2009, 6:01am

Immigration raids often start with tips from disgruntled employees
by Mike Sunnucks

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It often starts with a disgruntled current or former employee calling a Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office tip line or a worker who has gotten into legal trouble sharing information on an employer.

The result can be dozens of armed MCSO deputies raiding a business, shutting it down for hours and arresting suspected undocumented workers.

A 2007 state law, designed to suspend or the revoke business licenses of employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers, has led to many employee arrests, but few bosses or businesses have been charged.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has raided 22 Phoenix-area businesses suspected of hiring illegal immigrants since 2008. Those resulted in 310 arrests on immigration, fake identification and identify theft charges.

The raids are welcomed by those who back Arpaio’s get-tough approach to illegal immigration, but others question how the sheriff’s tactics and targeting people whose only crime is illegally entering the U.S. for work.

Arpaio says the raids are conducted under the 2007 Legal Arizona Workers Act and a federal 287(g) agreement, which allows the MCSO to arrest illegal immigrants.

Arpaio said it is tough to prove businesses knowingly hire illegal immigrants who show fake IDs, but will arrest suspected workers during the raids. “It’s hard to hook the employer,â€