Immigration enforcement earns big bucks for Bisbee

By Jonathan Clark
Herald/Review
BISBEE — The selection of vehicles up for bidding at the June 23 Bisbee police auction was enough to make any used car salesman envious.

There were sports cars, like a 1998 red Ford Mustang convertible; luxury models, like a 1995 Lincoln Town Car; and plenty of vans and trucks.

Some were surplus city vehicles, sold off to make room for new upgrades. But according to Sgt. Taron Maddox, spokesman for the Bisbee Police Department, the majority had been seized after local officers found them carrying illegal immigrants northward through the city limits.

By the end of the auction, 55 of the vehicles had been sold, raising a total of $56,806 for city coffers. When added to the approximately $220,000 the U.S. Department of Homeland Security promised the city earlier in the year, this meant that Bisbee has raised a quarter of a million dollars so far in 2007 by helping to fight immigration-related crime.

This sum represents a significant chunk of change for the city, which began the 2006-2007 fiscal year with a total budget of $18.1 million and a police department budget of $1.77 million.

However, some local residents complain that the financial incentives for enforcing immigration law along state highways encourage the police to act as a revenue generator for the city while distracting them from more pressing local security needs.

Double duty

According to City Manager Steve Pauken, the funds offered by Homeland Security come as part of Operation Stonegarden, a program that helps local authorities in the southwest recover costs incurred from enforcing border security.

So far in 2007, Bisbee has been given two $100,000 grants plus approximately $20,000 for a police radio upgrade, Pauken said.

“Homeland Security extends funds for its Operation Stonegarden to a lot of law enforcement agencies in Southern Arizona, but the agency that receives the most money is the Bisbee police,â€