Judge voids Az seizures of smugglers' payments

JACQUES BILLEAUD
The Associated Press

A judge struck down the first effort by prosecutors in Arizona to seize suspected immigrant smuggling money flowing from other American states into northern Mexico.

The ruling released Wednesday found the effort by the Arizona Attorney General's office was unconstitutional and barred prosecutors from seizing money that wasn't sent to or received in the state. Arizona is the country's busiest illegal entry point.

For more than four years, prosecutors had used special court orders that allowed them to seize $17 million in wire transfers flowing to Arizona that authorities said were payments to smugglers.

Prosecutors said their previous efforts were so successful that smugglers began to route their payments from other American states to Mexico, even as traffickers continued to sneak people in through Arizona. Authorities responded by trying to seize money transfers going into the northern Mexican state of Sonora.

Western Union, the biggest wire transfer company in Arizona, challenged the foray into Mexico and persuaded a judge in September to temporarily put the broader approach on hold.