Feds cut sheriff’s power to arrest illegals

PHOENIX (AP) | An Arizona sheriff known for aggressively cracking down on illegal immigration has been stripped of some of his special power to enforce federal immigration law, and he claims the Obama administration is taking away his authority for political reasons.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose office faces racial-profiling allegations over crime and immigration sweeps in some heavily Hispanic areas of metro Phoenix, said officials from Washington won’t let him renew a deal that let his deputies make federal immigration arrests.

“Let them all go brag that they took away the sheriff’s authority. Let them all do that. That doesn’t bother me. I don’t have an ego. I will continue doing the same thing,” the Republican sheriff said, noting he can still enforce state immigration laws. “What has changed, other than the politics and the perception emanating from Washington?”

The U.S. government, which does most of the nation’s immigration enforcement, is changing its rules for allowing local police to enforce more expansive federal immigration laws. Nationally, more than 1,000 local police and jail officers have been granted the power since 2002 to make immigration arrests and speed up deportations.

Sheriff Arpaio has more officers with the special powers than any other local police agency in the country. For more than two years, 100 of his deputies have made immigration arrests, and 60 jail officers have identified inmates who are illegal immigrants.

Even though federal officials declined to let the sheriff keep making immigration arrests, Sheriff Arpaio last week renewed a deal that will let his jail officers determine inmates’ immigration status.

Sheriff Arpaio said federal officials offered no explanation of why his powers were cut in half.

Vinnie Picard, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which grants the special powers, declined to comment on the curtailment of Sheriff Arpaio’s powers or whether any of the other 62 participating local agencies across the country have been denied renewals.

The agencies face an Oct. 14 deadline to renew their agreements. So far, at least three agencies have dropped out of the program.

Giving federal powers to local police helps supplement the small staff of federal agents who enforce immigration laws in the country’s interior, said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which favors tougher immigration enforcement.

He said it’s hard to tell whether the limits on Sheriff Arpaio’s authority will extend to other agencies and would hamper the movement for local police to confront illegal immigration.

“I suspect there is some effort there to send a warning to other police departments: Don’t get too aggressive with this, because we will yank it out from under you,” Mr. Mehlman said.

Joan Friedland, immigration-policy director for the National Immigration Law Center, said the federal government wasn’t making a serious attempt to rein in Sheriff Arpaio, because his jail officers still have the power to question jailed people about their immigration status.

“All he has to do is get people to the jail, rather than being able to question them about their immigration status on the street,” said Miss Friedland, whose group advocates on behalf of low-income immigrants.

For his part, Sheriff Arpaio said he plans to continue cracking down on illegal immigration by enforcing state laws that prohibit immigrant smuggling and that ban employers from knowingly hiring illegal immigrants.