Sheriff's Office, federal immigration agents in jurisdiction spat
PHOENIX (AP) -- A dispute over jurisdiction between federal immigration agents and the sheriff's office in Arizona's most populous county is allowing some illegal immigrants to walk out of jail.
Since the first arrests made in March under Arizona's human-smuggling law, the Maricopa County Attorney's Office has filed 268 cases - 31 against suspected coyotes and the rest against suspected conspirators assumed to be undocumented immigrants.
So far, 63 have pleaded guilty to lesser offenses, 15 have been dismissed, two acquitted and one convicted by a jury.
But 17 have walked right out of the jail and into the community - including six who pleaded guilty to human-smuggling felonies - because the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency decided it wouldn't transport out of the country people prosecuted under the controversial coyote law.
Since the first arrests made in March under Arizona's human-smuggling law, the Maricopa County Attorney's Office has filed 268 cases - 31 against suspected coyotes and the rest against suspected conspirators assumed to be undocumented immigrants.
So far, 63 have pleaded guilty to lesser offenses, 15 have been dismissed, two acquitted and one convicted by a jury.
But 17 have walked right out of the jail and into the community - including six who pleaded guilty to human-smuggling felonies - because the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency decided it wouldn't transport out of the country people prosecuted under the controversial coyote law.
posted by missionaryman | 7:30 AM
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