by KTAR Newsroom

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio still isn’t saying when he will take his crime suppression patrols to Mesa.

He says there’s a reason for the delay — he’s giving illegal immigrants a chance to get out of town.

“I’m giving them a chance to pack up and leave, so when I do go in there, there may not be a big problem,” he said.

If an illegal immigrant needs a ride, Arpaio says, “Call 602-876-1000 and we’ll make arrangements. Maybe we’ll even pick them up.”

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Mon, 04/07/2008 – 15:28 — Judicial Watch Blog

The U.S. border state leading the battle against illegal immigration with unprecedented tough laws has received complaints from Mexico’s government that too many Mexicans have been repatriated and the country is overwhelmed with demands for housing, jobs and schools.

Fed up with the devastating effect of illegal immigration, Arizona has enacted the nation’s toughest laws to curb the problem and evidently its working. State legislators have passed laws barring illegal immigrants from receiving government services, posting bail for serious crimes and winning punitive damages in lawsuits. This year a new law makes it illegal for businesses to hire undocumented workers and those that do can be shut down.

The state legislator who sponsored the work bill, Representative Russell Pearce, says the law’s undeniably positive effects include smaller class sizes, shorter emergency room waits and an overall huge savings to taxpayers. The Republican congressman drafted the bill because studies revealed that illegal immigration cost Arizona taxpayers over $2 billion annually, not including the toll of crime and destruction.

It turns out that enough illegal immigrants have either fled the U.S. or been deported that officials in the Mexican state of Sonora, which shares an extensive border with Arizona, have complained that too many of their fellow countrymen have returned. They miss the remittances sent from the U.S. as well as smaller class sizes in local schools.

Mexican government officials knew Arizona’s tough employment verification law would become their worst nightmare, which explains why they tried blocking it. Earlier this year a delegation of nine legislators from Sonora toured Tucson and held a news conference to say that their beloved state cannot handle the demand for housing, jobs and schools resulting from illegal Mexican workers returning home.

One baffled Mexican legislator, Leticia Amparano Gamez, asked in Spanish “how can they pass a law like this?” She went on to explain that Mexico is not prepared for the “tremendous problems” it will face as more and more Mexicans working in Arizona and sending money to their families return to hometowns in Sonora without jobs. Another member of the Mexican delegation, Representative Florencio Diaz Armenta, asked “what do we do with the repatriated?”

Link…

Aaron Royster
Miner Staff Writer

The Mohave County Attorney’s Office is investigating eight possible violations of the Legal Arizona Workers Act.

The Office began accepting citizen complaint forms when the Act, sometimes called the “Employer Sanctions Law,” became effective on Jan. 1.

The complaint forms are available at the County Attorney’s Office in Kingman, 315 N. Fourth St., and on the County Attorney’s Office Web site, www.co.mohave.az.us.

Completion of the forms start the investigation of an employer suspected of knowingly employing an unauthorized alien. An unauthorized alien is any person who is not a U.S. citizen or permanent resident and who is not authorized to work in the United States under federal law.

Of the eight businesses being investigated, one is in Kingman, one is in Mohave Valley and six are in Lake Havasu City, Chief Deputy County Attorney Jace Zack said.

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From OneOldVet:

Construction, hospitality, high-tech firms have the highest number of registrations

As the number of Arizona employers enrolled in E-Verify grows, a picture has emerged of the industries taking part the most in the federal worker-verification program.

Industries involved with construction, high-tech and hospitality are among those with the highest number of employers signed up for E-Verify. They also tend to be the industries with the most firms and employees, according to an Arizona Republic analysis.

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Ban on birth certificates for illegal immigrants?

Ban on birth certificates for illegal immigrants?

The Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association says it’s troubled by a proposed ballot initiative that would prevent birth certificates from being issued to children of illegal immigrants.

The association says it’s still studying the newly filed proposal but that it appears it would place hospital personnel in a law enforcement role. That might erode the trust between providers and patients.

The “Birthright Citizenship Alignment Act” proposed for the state’s November 2008 ballot would require hospitals to check the citizenship of parents of newborns.

Some critics of illegal immigration contend that the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment has been misapplied and was never intended to automatically grant citizenship to babies of illegal immigrants.

Link..

Kidnapping of illegal immigrants on the rise

Lindsey Collom
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 29, 2007 12:00 AM

They are kidnapped at gunpoint, whisked away, held for ransom, sometimes tortured. Sometimes, they are sent home. Sometimes, they end up dead.

They are involved in human and drug trafficking; many are illegal immigrants. They are kidnapping victims, and police say their numbers are on the rise.

Kidnappings have long been an issue among illegal immigrants, where predators know victims are less likely to turn to law enforcement. But authorities say the rate of such crime has reached a new high. The violence rarely touches legitimate businesses and citizens, police say, but it’s happening close to home.

“What you have are people who are heavily armed, motivated, very violent, who are in the community that are torturing people, killing people,” said Sgt. Joel Tranter, a Phoenix police spokesman. “They’re driving the same streets as everybody else. They’re in that house that’s quiet, and you see people come and go a little bit. Imagine if that’s the house next to yours.”

Phoenix police now investigate one to three new cases each week, but officials believe the crimes are vastly underreported because victims are hesitant to come forward, and even when they are, many are too scared to help prosecute. More..