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Immigration See other Immigration Articles Title: Arpaio unit to foil people smugglers Arpaio unit to foil people smugglers Daniel González Six Maricopa County sheriff's deputies have been assigned full-time to investigate and arrest people who smuggle immigrants into the United States, Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Tuesday. Although deputies have cooperated with federal immigration agents in the past, this is the first time a special unit has been created within the Sheriff's Office to investigate smuggling crimes. The new anti-smuggling unit will target smugglers, not undocumented immigrants, Arpaio said. But Arpaio did not rule out the possibility that deputies will report to federal immigration officials any undocumented immigrants they come across as part of their work. "Every case is different," Arpaio said. "I'm not targeting illegals. But if I come across them, I will have to make that decision." Arpaio created the anti-smuggling unit under a new state law that allows local law-enforcement agencies to arrest human smugglers in Arizona, where the often-violent smuggling trade has flourished in recent years. The unit is working with 12 federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who have been sworn in as sheriff's deputies. Arpaio also has created a "posse" of Sheriff's Office volunteers to "go out and try and elicit intelligence from the Hispanic community" about smugglers. Some immigrant-rights advocates, however, don't believe local police departments should investigate immigration crimes and worry the Sheriff Office's anti-smuggling unit could alienate immigrant communities if it leads to undocumented immigrants being rounded up and turned over to federal authorities. "People are not going to want to call them to report crimes" if they think they could get deported, said Luis Ibarra, executive director of Friendly House, a Phoenix-based non-profit organization that provides services to Latino immigrants. Mary Rose Wilcox, a Maricopa County supervisor and Hispanic community leader, said she supports the new anti-smuggling unit and does not believe it will be used to target undocumented immigrants. The new unit, she said, could be instrumental in solving 13 execution-style killings in the desert west of Phoenix dating back to 2002. Investigators believe the killings are connected to the smuggling trade. "My understanding was that he finally was going to get some tools to investigate smugglers," Wilcox said. "I agree (turning over undocumented immigrants) is a concern, but I'm glad he's taking the lead and going after these smugglers."
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