I have an interesting question to ask and maybe on this board an attorney might know the answer.

If it is a criminal or civil offense for an illegal alien to be in the US illegally can a private person arrest that person and turn them over to the proper authorities.

Background on my question: In Arizona as in many other states a private person also known as a citizen may make an arrest of a person who has committed a crime in their presence or a felony has been committed and based on belief the person before you is the one who committed that felony you may make an arrest. That means any breach of the peace committed in your presence such as disorderly conduct, ect.

Arizona Revised Statute:

13-3884. Arrest by private person

A private person may make an arrest:

1. When the person to be arrested has in his presence committed a misdemeanor amounting to a breach of the peace, or a felony.

2. When a felony has been in fact committed and he has reasonable ground to believe that the person to be arrested has committed it.


13-3889. Method of arrest by private person

A private person when making an arrest shall inform the person to be arrested of the intention to arrest him and the cause of the arrest, unless he is then engaged in the commission of an offense, or is pursued immediately after its commission or after an escape, or flees or forcibly resists before the person making the arrest has opportunity so to inform him, or when the giving of such information will imperil the arrest.

13-3900. Duty of private person after making arrest

A private person who has made an arrest shall without unnecessary delay take the person arrested before the nearest or most accessible magistrate in the county in which the arrest was made, or deliver him to a peace officer, who shall without unnecessary delay take him before such magistrate. The private person or officer so taking the person arrested before the magistrate shall make before the magistrate a complaint, which shall set forth the facts showing the offense for which the person was arrested. If, however, the officer cannot make the complaint, the private person who delivered the person arrested to the officer shall accompany the officer before the magistrate and shall make to the magistrate the complaint against the person arrested.


13-3854. Arrest without a warrant

The arrest of a person may be lawfully made also by any peace officer or a private citizen without a warrant upon reasonable information that the accused stands charged in the courts of another state with a crime punishable by death or imprisonment for a term exceeding one year, but when so arrested the accused must be taken before a judge or magistrate with all practicable speed and complaint must be made against him under oath setting forth the ground for the arrest as in section 13-3853, and thereafter his answer shall be heard as if he had been arrested on a warrant.

13-3896. Arrest after escape or rescue; method of recapture

A. If a person lawfully arrested escapes or is rescued, the person from whose custody he escaped or was rescued may immediately pursue and retake him without a warrant at any time and in any place within the state.

B. To retake the person escaping or rescued the person from whose custody he escaped who is lawfully pursuing may use the same means as are authorized for an arrest.

13-3892. Right of private person to break into building

A private person, in order to make an arrest where a felony was committed in his presence, as authorized in section 13-3884, may break open a door or window of any building in which the person to be arrested is or is reasonably believed to be, if he is refused admittance after he has announced his purpose.