Posted on 05/11/2006 10:05:39 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
AVONDALE, Ariz. - Following a week of tough talk, a 250-member sheriff's posse that was assembled to catch illegal immigrants made just one arrest in its first desert search early Thursday.
The posse — made up of Maricopa County sheriff's deputies and trained volunteers — launched night patrols Wednesday in the desert and along major roads southwest of Phoenix.
Deputies attempted to pull over a pickup truck about 12:45 a.m. Thursday, but the truck took off in the desert and its 15 to 20 occupants scattered. Only one person was tracked down, despite night-vision equipment, spotlights and a helicopter.
"It just makes me angry," Sheriff Joe Arpaio said. "People say these are helpless people coming into the United States just to work, and yet when they see law enforcement, they run. If they were trying to obey the law, why are they running?"
Arpaio speculated that the night was slow because potential border crossers have heard about that the county is cracking down. He said the operation will continue.
Arpaio's posse is looking to arrest illegal immigrants under a new state law that allows local law enforcement to arrest and charge immigrant-smugglers with felonies. Sheriff's officials already have arrested 147 illegal immigrants and smugglers under the law.
A human-rights group is challenging County Attorney Andrew Thomas' contention that the law applies to illegal immigrants as well as immigrant smugglers.
Undercover Posse members of the Maricopa County Sheriff's department wait for instructions following a news conference by Sheriff Joe Arpaio, which kicked off the beginning of his department's efforts to find illegal immigrants, Wednesday, May 10, 2006, in Avondale, Ariz. Under a new state law, human smuggling is now a felony crime in Arizona.(AP Photo/Roy Dabner)
More AP bias....
i wonder what it would do to the morale around here if every failed apprehension was a story...
I'm sure the arrest of illegals will continue to drop in Maricopa county.
And the clueless MSM will point to this and pronounce the posse program as a failure.
Sheriff Arpaio....Man with a spine bump.
Amen.
He may be a self-promoting politician, but he is acting on America's biggest domestic problem. I applaud him for that. It's time our elected leaders listened to the voters instead of the criminals. Do you hear me, Mr. Rove?
It's because they aren't coming through there anymore. The MSM is trying to make it look like a failure, when actually it has proven to be quite a deterant.
"...made just one arrest..."
And what exactly is the problem with that? It means that the other thousands of wannabe illegals stayed home, does it not?
Exactly. It's done precisely what anyone would have predicted it would have done: shunt illegals away from that location. Same thing the Maginot Line ended up doing.
Stupid press.....it's called being on the OFFENSE....like building a Strategic Air Command....and not having to use it.....sheesh.
Just Americans doing the job that the Americans' represtentives (NOT 'leaders' as the MSM like to call them) won't do...
How are we gonna get rid of the millions already in the USA - that's what I'd like to know .
represtentives = representatives
wasnt he (sherrif) on Rush today? Didnt he said he arrested more than just 1?
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