March 19th, 2012

Banner Week in Arpaios Battle Against Illegal Immigration

(Phoenix, AZ) Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio says his deputies have combatted illegal immigration this week in three key areas all of which netted the arrests of 54 illegal aliens. The arrests come from human smuggling operations and employer sanctions investigations as well as an animal cruelty case involving cockfighting. All were booked into the Maricopa County Jail. In the human smuggling case, deputies yesterday arrested six illegal aliens who were being smuggled from Mexico. All six suspects admitted to being in the country illegally telling deputies they crossed the border near Sonorita and were headed to California, Colorado and Phoenix. Each said they paid between $1000 and $2000 to be smuggled into the U.S. All suspects were identified as Mexican Nationals. To date the Maricopa County Sheriffs Office has arrested over 5,450 illegal aliens involved in human smuggling. In the employer sanction case this week, deputies arrested 31 of employees working at 21st Century Laboratories in Tempe, Arizona and booked them on charges of identification theft, a class four felony. It was the 58th employer sanctions case conducted by Arpaios deputies and resulted in one of the largest number of employee arrests to date. All arrested were illegal aliens. 100 West Washington, Suite 1900, Phoenix, Arizona 85003 Phone: (602) 876-1801 Fax: (602) 258-2081
Media Contact: MediaRequest@MCSO.Maricopa.Gov
1

Also this week, a large inner city cock fighting ring was busted by Sheriffs deputies and 31 suspects, 17 of whom were later determined to be illegal aliens, were taken into custody.

100 West Washington, Suite 1900, Phoenix, Arizona 85003 Phone: (602) 876-1801 Fax: (602) 258-2081
Media Contact: MediaRequest@MCSO.Maricopa.Gov
2