'I don't need the federal law'
Sheriff Joe in second day of illegal alien sweeps in Surprise, Arizona caused controversy when he arrested alleged illegal immigrants without federal authority.
SURPRISE, AZ -- Maricopa County Sheriff's officials say 34 people were arrested in the first eight hours of a west Valley crime sweep that started Friday at noon.
In a news release, Sheriff Joe Arpaio said nine more people were arre
More..sted Saturday morning when deputies served a search warrant on a Peoria car wash.
Maricopa County Sheriff's spokesman Aaron Douglas said the warrant was served on On Your Way Car Wash and Quick Lube near 91st and Northern avenues in Peoria around 8:15 a.m. Saturday.
Douglas said Peoria police were not involved in the raid, that it was part of Arpaio's weekend crime sweep.
The manager of the car wash was arrested after he admitted to deputies he drove to work on a suspended driver's license, according to Douglas.
Douglas said of the nine people at the car wash who were arrested, seven were picked up for illegal immigration status and two were arrested for identification theft.
The search warrant was served in conjunction with this weekend's crime suppression operation in the northwest Valley, according to MCSO Lt. Brian Lee.
This is the 12th crime suppression sweep conducted by the sheriff.
According to Sheriff's Office spokesman Brian Lee, Arpaio has vowed to continue his enforcement of all aspects of immigration laws and says that the federal government’s move to strip deputies of their ICE agent status will not change anything.
Citing a 1996 federal law, Arpaio said officials are allowed to detain someone briefly if that person is in the country illegally.
MCSO says it still believes it has the authority under federal law to detain undocumented immigrants during the course of their duties.
Arpaio said Sheriff's deputies will use special teams to videotape deputies’ contact with the public to preserve an account of any incident and to assist deputies during law enforcement operations.
The Sheriff said in a Friday news release that he understands and respects citizen’s first amendment rights.
However, he said he also understands those rights need to be balanced by the possibility of danger to his deputies when they are distracted by protestors approaching while they are trying to focus on their duties.
The Sheriff also spoke out against his opponents who video tape his deputies during the traffic stops saying they create safety concerns for his deputies.
"I too will now have people videotaping our deputies," he said. "We won't edit the tape the way they do."
Dennis Gilman of Cop Watch is one of many people documenting the stops.
"We prevent more abuse than we witness," said Gilman. "If he has nothing to hide then he should have no problem with us filming."
Immigration and Customs Enforcement response to MCSO’s sweep
Suzanne Bar, ICE official said, “As of today, Sheriff Arpaio’s authority to conduct immigration enforcement actions on the streets of Maricopa County no longer derives from any federal authority. MCSO’s authority to conduct “crime suppression operations” comes directly from Arizona state law. ICE had no engagement in today’s operations outside of their standard procedure of responding to a local law enforcement agency’s request for assistance. Pursuant to federal law, ICE’s Law Enforcement Agency Response teams (LEAR) respond to requests and determine whether to take custody of an individual on a case by case basis. The Department of Justice 's Civil Rights Division has an ongoing investigation into the Maricopa County Sherriff's office and we would refer questions about that investigation to them.”
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Added On October 18, 2009 Less..
Added: Oct 18 2009 In: news_politics
Recorded on: Oct 17 2009
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