As those of you who have recently moved from somewhere else to Arizona…there are some things you needed to know to make your adjustment a little easier. You can imagine what a shock Sarah is in for when she encounters 115 degrees outside. That’s above zero.

So here is some important information for Sarah about Arizona:

Juneau:You know Juneau as the capital of Alaska. But when you hear the word “juno” in Arizona is is the start of a sentence like “juno where the Wal Mart is?”

Sled dogs: Sled dog racing is not very popular in Arizona but one might considered harnessing 20 or 30 chihuahuas to a sled.

Ice: Arizonans get their ice either from a ice machine (that’s the compartment on the door of the refrigerator) or from the Circle K.

Ice fishing: In Arizona this involves rooting around the freezer compartment at the grocery store for frozen fish.

Snow: From Phoenix you can occasionally see snow way off in the distance on the top of mountains.  That’s a close as most Arizonans want to get to snow, except for a weekend in Flagstaff or the White Mountains.

Reptiles: There are lots and lots of four legged reptiles, n0-legged reptiles and two-legged reptiles in Arizona. A lot of them are poisonous….especially the ones that work for tv stations and newspapers.

Wolves: We’ve got a few of them over in eastern Arizona but they are protected by the Endangered Species Act so if you shoot one of them you will go to jail.

Coyotes: We have lots of these critters which look like small wolves. You can shoot at these coyotes as long as you are more than a quarter of a mile from the nearest home. There are also people called “coyotes” who get paid to smuggle illegal aliens into the state. A lot of Arizonans would like to shoot those coyotes, also. Note…there is also a hockey team in Phoenix called the “Coyotes” but we’ve never figured out how they can skate on sand.

Drop House: An Arizona term for renrted homes where “coyotes” stash 50 or 100 illegal aliens while waiting for transportation to LA or Chicago. Not to be confused with “stash house”. Sometimes the illegal aliens in a “drop house” are held for ransom by the “coyotes”, making Phoenix the second worst city in North America for kidnapping. Mexico City is still number one.

Stash House: An Arizona term for a rented house in which illegal drugs smuggled from Mexico are stored before shipment to LA or back east.

Monsoon: This is a time in July and August when the wind changes and blows moisture up from Mexico setting off thunderstorms over the state’s mountains. Instead of snow storms we have dust storms during the monsoon. Don’t stop your car on the roadway if you are caught in a dust storm because some trucker will rear end you going 80 mph. We do not have any Ice Road Truckers here…but during a dust storm they drive like they were on a frozen lake.

Golf: One of the favorite recreational activities of Arizonans is playing golf on luxuriant green courses that are located all over the north and eastern sides of Phoenix. Never ask where the water comes from to irrigate these golf courses.

Drilling for oil and natural gas: As far as we know, outside of the Navajo Indian Reservation, there are no oil or gas reserves under the state. When Arizonans talk about “drilling” they are looking for groundwater.

Snowbirds: That’s a term Arizonans use to describe people who come to the state in the winter to escape snow up north and east. You will probably be considered a “snowbird” unless you actually live through the summer in Scottsdale.

Moose: In Arizona this is some kind of expensive desert you can order at Scottsdale resorts.

CAP: Does not mean a “gimme cap” people wear. It is short hand for the Central Arizona Project which delivers water to Phoenix from the Colorado River,which flows down from the Rockies in Colorado. The people in Colorado think we’re stealing their water. We are.

SRP: Is not shorthand for syrup. This is the Salt River project which provides irrigation water to the Valley and electricity to half the people in the Valley. This is the most powerful lobby in the state and are good folks to be on the good side of if you want a political career inside Arizona.

APS: Is not shorthand for an iPhone application. This is the privately owned electric utility that serves the other half of the Valley. You will no doubt hear from them about important issues to resolve in Washington.

Hell: After your first summer in Arizona with day upon day of 110 degree weather you will appreciate that God does not send sinners from Phoenix to Hell when they die…they are sent to Alaska. 

This was also reported in the New York Times.

Speculation is rampant that Palin is going to use Arizona as a base to run for the White House. The logic is it will be easier for her to run around the country from a base in Arizona than from Alaska.

There are lots of places in the lower 48 where Palin could operate from with better airline connections.

So why Arizona?

Looking at the fact she chose to buy a home in Scottsdale in the center of Arizona’s far right-ward shift, she will obviously be living among kindred spirits.

 Just as obviously she did not choose to buy a home in Tucson or Baja Arizona.

Just when we thought we had enough negative national political attention from the antics of Joe Arpaio and Russell Pearce now we have Palin to deal with as an “Arizonan”.

Word is coyotes were seen fleeing the state in fear of being hunted by airplane.

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Guide to Arizona for Sarah Palin

Arizona Lawmakers Push New Round of Immigration Restrictions

By MARC LACEY Published: February 23, 2011

PHOENIX — Arizona lawmakers are proposing a sweeping package of immigration restrictions that might make the controversial measures the state approved last year, which the Obama administration went to court to block, look mild.

Illegal immigrants would be barred from driving in the state, enrolling in school or receiving most public benefits. Their children would receive special birth certificates that would make clear that the state does not consider them Arizona citizens.

Some of the bills, like those restricting immigrants’ access to schooling and right to state citizenship, flout current federal law and are being put forward to draw legal challenges in hopes that the Supreme Court might rule in the state’s favor.

More….

And people wonder why Pima County residents want their own state of Baja Arizona….

Arizona bill would make Colt revolver state’s official firearm
by Mary Jo Pitzl – Feb. 22, 2011 04:36 PM
The Arizona Republic

Now that Arizona has an official state nickname (“The Grand Canyon State” in case you didn’t know), the Legislature is on track to name an official state firearm.

The weapon of choice: the Colt Single Action Army revolver. It dates from 1873, making it far older than the state, although arguably it was in use during territorial days. It was the standard Army issue until 1892.

Senate Bill 1610 would memorialize the Colt as the official nickname, joining other official symbols such as the cactus blossom as the official state flower and the bolo tie as the official state neckwear.

In a sign of the continuing partisan divide at the Capitol, particularly where gun bills are concerned, SB 1610 had 43 Republican sponsors, but not a single Democrat.

The bill was heard Tuesday by the Senate Appropriations Committee, where a “yes” vote was expected.

If passed into law, Arizona would join Utah, which is on track to make the Browning-designed M1911 its official firearm.

And people wonder….why not the AK 47? Or why Pima County wants its own state….

Here is a very interesting article describing the problems Texas ranchers face. Change the geographic locations and it is the same stuff that is going on along our border.

From The Cattleman published by the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association

Ranching No Man’s Land  by David Crosby

…A Hidalgo County rancher had this to say about coyotes, “Coyotes have GPS [global positioning systems] and cell phones, so they know where they are all the time. A coyote will walk his illegals into the ground. If they can’t keep up, he will just leave them. He doesn’t care. You will find them sometimes wandering the ranch and desperate for help to get back to a road so they can return home.”

As a consequence, illegal immigrants sometimes die on ranch property — some due to the elements, some to coyote violence, some to rape and robbery. The body count near the Rio Grande River is small — a Hidalgo County rancher will usually find only 1 or 2 bodies a year. Near Falfurrias, ranchers routinely find bodies on their property.

According to Vickers, who owns a ranch in the Falfurrias area, “In 2009, 71 bodies were found on ranches in the Falfurrias area. Since 2005, between 400 and 500 bodies were found.”

More….

The great frustration for all residents of the borderlands…Arizona…Texas…is that for all the federal claims the border is “more secure than ever”  the reality on the ground is it is NOT !

More articles and commentaries about the border

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The US Census released is “Apportionment Counts” on December 21st. This sets the basis for reallocating Congressional Seats. Arizona will gain 1 new seat in Congress.

Since the majority of the populaion growth has been in Maricopa and Pinal counties, the new Congressional Seat will probably be up that way.

Each Congressional Seat will represent 710,767 people.

Chances are pretty good that given that the GOP will be carving out the new district and realigning the rest of them, that Pima County will come out on the short end. Currently Pima has a piece of Raul Grijalva’s district and Gabrielle Giffords’ district.

Watch as the GOP pushes Giffords’ district into a more solid Republican opportunity to unseat her in 2012, and try and shrink the chances of Grijalva and Ed Pastor to both hold onto their Democratic seats. 

U.S. Census Bureau Announces 2010 Census Population Counts — Apportionment Counts Delivered to President

The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that the 2010 Census showed the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2010, was 308,745,538.

The resident population represented an increase of 9.7 percent over the 2000 U.S. resident population of 281,421,906. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, Acting Commerce Deputy Secretary Rebecca Blank and Census Bureau Director Robert Groves unveiled the official counts at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

“A big thanks to the American public for its overwhelming response to the 2010 Census,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said. “The result was a successful count that came in on time and well under budget, with a final 2010 Census savings of $1.87 billion.”

Rebecca Blank, now Acting Deputy Secretary of Commerce who has overseen the 2010 Census as Under Secretary for Economic Affairs, echoed Locke. “The 2010 Census was a massive undertaking, and in reporting these first results, we renew our commitment to our great American democracy peacefully, fairly and openly for the 23rd time in our nation’s history.”

The U.S. resident population represents the total number of people in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The most populous state was California (37,253,956); the least populous, Wyoming (563,626). The state that gained the most numerically since the 2000 Census was Texas (up 4,293,741 to 25,145,561) and the state that gained the most as a percentage of its 2000 Census count was Nevada (up 35.1% to 2,700,551).

Regionally, the South and the West picked up the bulk of the population increase, 14,318,924 and 8,747,621, respectively. But the Northeast and the Midwest also grew: 1,722,862 and 2,534,225.

Additionally, Puerto Rico’s resident population was 3,725,789, a 2.2 percent decrease over the number counted a decade earlier.

Just before today’s announcement, Locke delivered the apportionment counts to President Obama, 10 days before the statutory deadline of Dec. 31. The apportionment totals were calculated by a congressionally defined formula, in accordance with Title 2 of the U.S. Code, to divide among the states the 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The apportionment population consists of the resident population of the 50 states, plus the overseas military and federal civilian employees and their dependents living with them who could be allocated to a state. Each member of the House represents, on average, about 710,767 people. The populations of the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are excluded from the apportionment population, as they do not have voting seats in Congress.

“The decennial count has been the basis for our representative form of government since 1790,” Groves said. “At that time, each member of the House represented about 34,000 residents. Since then, the House has more than quadrupled in size, with each member now representing about 21 times as many constituents.”

President Obama will transmit the apportionment counts to the 112th Congress during the first week of its first regular session in January. The reapportioned Congress will be the 113th, which convenes in January 2013.

Beginning in February and wrapping up by March 31, 2011, the Census Bureau will release demographic data to the states on a rolling basis so state governments can start the redistricting process.

Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution calls for a census of the nation’s population every 10 years to apportion the House seats among the states. The 2010 Census is the 23rd census in our nation’s history.

There are still lots of illegal immigrants crossing the border every day in Arizona according to aid workers who got out in the countryside to offer water and first aid. They find the crossers because they hike into the countryside instead of looking for undocumented aliens along the roads.

However, according a new story in the Arizona Republic, efforts to secure the border are not sufficient because of a lack of money and staff.

President Obama not soft on illegal immigrants

by Daniel González – Aug. 13, 2010 12:00 AM The Arizona Republic

The Obama administration is committed to tough enforcement of the nation’s immigration laws and is not “pro-amnesty,” the director of the nation’s immigration-enforcement agency said Thursday.

The Obama administration removed a record 380,000 people during the past fiscal year and made a priority of deporting illegal immigrants who pose the greatest threat to public safety, said John Morton, director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Morton was in Phoenix to announce that ICE agents had just completed a three-day sweep in Arizona tracking down illegal immigrants with criminal records. He also defended the agency’s track record amid criticism that President Barack Obama’s administration has been lax on immigration enforcement and hasn’t done enough to secure the border.

Morton said this week’s operation in Arizona was the largest ever conducted in the state. It resulted in the arrest of 63 illegal immigrants. At least 25 already have been deported.

The operation took place from Monday to Wednesday in conjunction with the U.S. Marshals Service. Officials fanned out across the state and made arrests in Phoenix, Tucson, Sedona, Mesa, Tempe and Prescott. ICE has launched five similar operations in other parts of the United States, and more are planned.

Of the 63 illegal immigrants arrested, 28 had been convicted of serious crimes, 24 were convicted of less serious crimes and three had been convicted of minor crimes.

Eight were non-criminal fugitives who had been ordered deported but didn’t leave or who had been previously deported.

Those arrested were from nine countries: Canada, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Uzbekistan.

The arrests included a 45-year-old Mexican woman convicted for conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a scheme that netted more than $820,000.

A 55-year-old Mexican man convicted of selling meth in 2003 also was arrested and will, for the second time, be prosecuted for re-entering the country illegally. The man was convicted of felony re-entry in 2009.

The operations are part of the Obama administration’s strategy of targeting illegal immigrants who pose the biggest threat to public safety, Morton said.

The agency deported 81,429 immigrants from Arizona during the past fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30.

Through Aug. 2 of this fiscal year, ICE removed more than 66,000 illegal immigrants from Arizona, 24,950 of them convicted criminals.

Obama also planned to sign a $600 million bill today to pay for putting more Border Patrol agents and equipment on the border with Mexico.

The bill will fund the hiring of 1,000 new Border Patrol agents to be deployed at critical areas along the border, 250 more ICE agents and 250 more Customs and Border Protection officers.

It also will pay for new communications equipment and greater use of unmanned surveillance drones.

But tough enforcement alone will not solve the nation’s problem with illegal immigration, Morton said. He said enforcement must be coupled with comprehensive reforms that include allowing illegal immigrants to earn legal status as long as they agree to pay fines and wait at the back of the line.

“The right answer is a balance of serious, and tough, sensible enforcement with rational bipartisan comprehensive federal immigration reform,” Morton said.

Despite the number of removals, the Obama administration has come under fire for being lax on immigration enforcement and not doing enough to secure the southwestern border with Mexico against illegal immigration and drug traffickers.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and other lawmakers have repeatedly cited federal inaction as the reason the state needed its own law requiring local police to question and arrest illegal-immigrant suspects.

At the end of July, some GOP lawmakers also accused the Obama administration of pursuing a “backdoor amnesty” for illegal immigrants after the draft of a government memo surfaced that discussed the possibility of allowing some illegal immigrants to remain in the country without fear of deportation through a program known as “deferred action.”

Also in July, the union that represents 7,000 rank-and-file ICE agents and employees announced publicly that the union had unanimously passed a “vote of no confidence” for Morton and ICE detention-policy director Phyllis Coven, saying they had abandoned the agency’s core mission of enforcing immigration laws and instead had directed their attention to campaigning for programs and policies related to amnesty, giving illegal immigrants who are now in the country legal status.

During a news conference, Morton bristled at the union’s complaint that he and the Obama administration are anti-enforcement and pro-amnesty.

“Neither of which is true,” said Morton, a former federal prosecutor. “We don’t support amnesty. I don’t support amnesty, and we are not anti-enforcement. . . .

“We are about enforcing the laws sensibly within the resources Congress gives us.”

ICE has the resources to remove about 400,000 people a year, he said.

The question is, he added: Who should those 400,000 people be?

“From my perspective, it ought to be public safety, getting criminals off the streets, securing our border and making sure we go after people who game the system. Period,” Morton said.

More articles and commentaries on immigration and border issues from the View from Baja Arizona

Amid immigration conflict, Arizona’s image takes a beating
by John Faherty – Aug. 1, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

Arizona has become code for conflict.

Across the nation and the world, the Grand Canyon State is now emblematic of the great divide on issues of immigration.

National polling indicates that most Americans support the state’s illegal-immigration crackdown. Still, the state’s image has taken a beating.

Supporters of Senate Bill 1070 say the state is unsafe. Opponents say it is unkind.

And from outside the state, the portrayals have been scathing.

A cartoonist for the Bergen Record in New Jersey portrayed Adolf Hitler with his mustache in the shape of Arizona.

Jay Leno joked on his late-night show, “Rich people in Arizona may have to start raising their own children now.”

On Wednesday, a federal judge blocked significant elements of Senate Bill 1070. But the drama did not end. If anything, it increased.

Gov. Jan Brewer announced she would appeal the decision, calling it “a little bump in the road.”

Opponents of the bill forged ahead with street protests the next day as the rest of the law took effect. Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s deputies arrested many who blocked the entrance to his jail.

Outside, an army of cable TV cameras rolled, covering the events live for the world to see.

“Arizona is shorthand now for the immigration conflict in this country,” said David Rogers, executive director of the Center on Global Brand Leadership at Columbia University. “The brand right now is conflict.”

The words

As the issue entered the spotlight, the country was unable to look away from Arizona. In big cities and small towns, “SB 1070″ was a subject of conversation.

On the day after the judge blocked much of the law, the New York Times used the words “tragic,” “noxious” and “misbegotten” to describe it, all in the first paragraph of its editorial.

The smaller Aurora Sentinel of Colorado wrote: “Since Arizona officials refuse to see reason, it’s good news for everyone that the federal courts have in putting a halt to that state’s flawed plan to take on the problem of illegal immigration.”

The rest of the U.S. was even willing to get in on the protests.

In Los Angeles, traffic on Wilshire Boulevard was blocked on Thursday by more than 200 people protesting SB 1070.

That same afternoon in New York, protesters mimicked those in Phoenix and crossed the Brooklyn Bridge chanting their disagreement with the bill.

Any high-profile fight becomes fodder for comedians, and this one was no different. It was just louder.

Before the bill had even been signed by the governor, satirist Stephen Colbert said law-enforcement officers would be allowed to “Taser anyone using the word ‘chipotle.’ ”

And sometimes the state took a pummeling, even when the rhetoric wasn’t entirely accurate.

The Times of London wrote on its website that “A U.S. judge has blocked a controversial ‘racial profiling’ law which some said was reminiscent of the early days of Nazi Germany.” The story went on to say the law “would have allowed police to stop and arrest anyone.”

The law, while far-reaching, was less sweeping than that.

It said that an officer engaged in a lawful stop, detention or arrest shall, when practicable, ask about a person’s legal status when reasonable suspicion exists that the person is in the U.S. illegally.

Still, between being the subject of protests and the butt of jokes, it was clear Arizona had an image problem.

The marketing

In May, Brewer acknowledged as much. “This is impacting Arizona’s face to the nation,” she said at the time.

Then she transferred $250,000 from the Arizona Department of Commerce to the Arizona Office of Tourism to support a new effort to polish Arizona’s image.

Sherry Henry has been working on that. She’s the executive director of the state’s tourism office.

“We try to get the word out that Arizona is still a warm and welcoming place to visit,” Henry said. “We are still the same Arizona.”

In Riverside, Ill., Theresa Coffey agreed.

“I would visit Arizona,” the 72-year-old said. “I have family there. I have been before, and I like it. All of the news has heightened my awareness of the debate, but I would still go. It’s always the politicians, never the people.”

Not everyone is convinced. “The state doesn’t seem all that attractive to me,” said Ignacio Carrillo, 56, a law professor in Mexico City. “I’d prefer to go to New York.”

The state group does not have enough money for a national advertising campaign, but it can conduct a public-relations blitz.

There will be newspaper commentaries and talk-show appearances in cities – like Chicago, San Francisco and Denver – where people have historically traveled to Arizona.

“Arizona is a place that people love and have always loved,” Henry said.

Still, it’s hard to do when the debate seems to hinge on the idea that your state is racked by violence.

Even Henry acknowledged it: “That has not made things easier.”

The violence

In May, Arizona Sens. Jon Kyl and John McCain wrote an open letter to President Barack Obama. “Many Arizonans do not feel safe within their own homes or on their own property,” the letter said. “They feel that they live in a lawless area of the country and have been abandoned by the federal government.”

Other members of Congress, including Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and John Shadegg, R-Ariz., sent Obama a letter asking that National Guard soldiers be sent to the border because “violence in the vicinity of the U.S. Mexico border continues to increase at an alarming rate.”

Two weeks before the state House of Representatives passed the bill, a rancher was found dead on his southern Arizona property, and authorities said they found tracks leading toward the border.

Everywhere, it seemed, border violence, or the specter of it, was raising its head.

In June, Brewer, speaking to a national audience on Fox News, said that Arizona “cannot afford all this illegal immigration and everything that comes with it, everything from the crime and to the drugs and the kidnappings and the extortion and the beheadings.”

Some of the violence loomed larger in debate than in reality.

FBI Uniform Crime Reports and statistics provided by police agencies, in fact, show that the crime rates in Nogales, Douglas, Yuma and other Arizona border towns have remained essentially flat for the past decade, even as drug-related violence has spiraled out of control on the other side of the international line.

Statewide, rates of violent crime also are down.

Still, the rancher, Robert Krentz, was killed, even if a connection to an illegal border crossing has not yet been proved.

And as the law took effect, the issue had everything it needed to feed 24-hour coverage: Fears of violence, protests in the streets, a national news angle, and no shortage of people willing to sound off about it.

The coverage

National coverage of the story has been nearly non-stop.

“There is an attraction with conflict,” said Greg Wise, professor of communications at Arizona State University. “And this is an issue that has captured the national attention.”

Within two hours of posting the judge’s decision on Wednesday, there were more than 6,750 comments on the Huffington Post website.

CNN, Telemundo and Fox News have been broadcasting a steady stream of images of Arizona.

Just before 4 p.m. Wednesday, the air was hot and thick with humidity at Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza. The cable-network satellite trucks were nearly blanketing the Statehouse lawn.

From within an air-conditioned broadcast tent, the CNN show “John King, USA” was preparing for the first of two days of coverage from Arizona.

When the lights came on, he looked intently into the camera and said, “Good evening tonight from ground zero in the nation’s debate over illegal immigration.”

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More posts on border issues

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With SB 1070 set to go into effect Thursday July 29th (unless the federal court enjoins portions of the law) things are about to get very stormy in Arizona.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio is up to his usual tricks launching another of his infamous “sweeps” on Thursday.

Here is the news for today:

Arizona police agencies vary on enforcement of Arizona immigration law
by JJ Hensley on Jul.28, 2010, under Arizona Republic News

With Arizona’s new immigration law set to take effect Thursday, law-enforcement officers around the state are braced to become among the most scrutinized in the world as both sides of the heated debate wait for a misstep.

Protesters who fear racial profiling are expected to descend on Arizona, intent on getting arrested for not carrying identification that proves their citizenship. Supporters of the law, meanwhile, will keep a careful eye on police activities to detect any agency that may have instructed officers to not enforce the law to the fullest extent.

U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton could move this week to suspend enforcement of all or parts of the law based on several constitutional challenges. Depending on her actions, police could retool their policies to comport with the court’s decision. Absent an action by Bolton, the law takes effect Thursday.

Proponents hoped Senate Bill 1070, which created the law earlier this year, would remove some discretion that police agencies have when it comes to enforcing immigration law, thereby prompting uniform enforcement. But a survey of Arizona police agencies indicates there is anything but a uniform approach.

By now, most police officers in the state have reviewed a training video the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board provided, but that is where uniformity ends. Many agencies have supplemented that training with their own policies.

Some have been instructed to try to verify status of suspects detained on the side of a road, while others have instructed that anyone booked into jail will have their residency status checked, regardless of what kind of ID they are carrying.

For example:

Arizona Department of Public Safety officers will work through the agency’s dispatch centers, which will determine whether officers should contact U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection or federally trained local agents to verify the immigration status of a suspect.

Flagstaff has instructed officers to enforce the statute as written, although Lt. Ken Koch said the statute isn’t entirely clear. “That statute is subject to interpretation,” he said. “It’s a very fluid and dynamic situation.”

In Yuma County, where sheriff’s deputies patrol an area that includes a shared border with Mexico, deputies will continue to work with Border Patrol agents when there are questions about a suspect’s immigration status, sheriff’s Capt. Eben Bratcher said.

Phoenix police officers will be required to contact federal authorities to verify the immigration status of everyone they arrest, regardless of whether the suspects have one of the “presumptive IDs” such as an Arizona driver’s license that the statewide training outlined.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s department, the most fervent agency in the state when it comes to rooting out illegal immigrants, won’t be attempting to determine anyone’s immigration status unless deputies are taking that suspect into custody for another crime.

The varied approaches are a reflection of the confusion that persists among agencies tasked with enforcing the law, which makes it a state crime to be in the country illegally.
The new law states that an officer engaged in a lawful stop, detention or arrest shall, when practicable, ask about a person’s legal status when reasonable suspicion exists that the person is in the U.S. illegally.

“The biggest question that seems to be pretty common is: Where are we taking these people once they’re in custody? Are we taking them to a federal facility? Are we taking them to a county jail?” Tucson police Officer Chuck Rydzak said.

Like their Phoenix counterparts, Tucson officers have been instructed to verify the status of everyone they arrest.

Supporters of the law say that approach by Phoenix and Tucson police, both of which are headed by opponents of the law, is designed to inundate federal agencies with verification requests, thereby clogging the system and making the law unworkable.

Mark Spencer, president of the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, said his organization contacted Gov. Jan Brewer’s office and the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board to raise concerns.

“In light of the state statute, you have a policy that appears to be designed to be costly, invasive or intrusive to citizens and burdensome to ICE,” Spencer said. “You take those three ingredients, and you have a policy that appears designed to undermine the rule of law.”

Arpaio’s policy instructs deputies to take a less thorough approach, with deputies waiting to ask immigration-related questions until they’re ready to arrest someone on suspicion of violating another state law.

The policy might seem lax for an agency that has become notorious for strident enforcement of state and federal immigration laws, but Arpaio’s deputy chief, Brian Sands, said the policy is part of the agency’s broader philosophy of prosecuting illegal-immigration suspects on state charges.

“There’s a deterrent factor in us enforcing state law over federal law,” Sands said. “When we catch offenders and prosecute them in our system, we now have them in our system. As they continue to offend … the punishment increases. It’s in the best interest of the community for us to enforce state laws.”

Of larger concern for many agencies are the acts of civil disobedience anticipated Thursday as the law takes effect. Groups from around the country are expected in the Valley this week, with many encouraging members to leave their ID at home and test whether police will arrest them.

Yuma County’s Bratcher and other officials said their officers and deputies are prepared for those challenges. “Every single traffic stop that we make is, if not video (recorded), it is audio recorded, and I hope that people don’t find themselves on the wrong end of a racial-profiling accusation,” Bratcher said. “If someone is confronting the officer with that accusation, the officer will immediately inform them why they stopped them.
“They’re going to cause no one but themselves a problem.”

Republic reporter Michael Ferraresi contributed to this article.

State heads for SB 1070 showdown

Jonathan J. Cooper and Michelle Price The Associated Press | Posted: Wednesday, July 28, 2010 12:00 am |

PHOENIX – Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is making room in a vast outdoor jail and is determined to round up illegal immigrants to fill it. Police from the U.S.-Mexico border to the Grand Canyon are getting last-minute training. And protests and marches are planned throughout Phoenix.

Arizona’s new immigration law takes effect Thursday, creating a potentially volatile mix of police, illegal immigrants and thousands of activists, many planning to show up without identification as a show of solidarity.

At least one group plans to block access to federal offices, daring officers to ask them their immigration status.

“Our message for that day is: ‘Don’t comply; don’t buy,’ ” said activist Liz Hourican, whose group, Codepink, plans to block the driveway for immigration offices in downtown Phoenix.

As both sides prepare, a federal judge is deciding whether to step in and block the law. It requires officers enforcing other laws to check a person’s immigration status if they suspect the person is in the country illegally. It also bans illegal immigrants from soliciting work in a public place.

Police across the state scrambled on Tuesday to train officers, including on how to avoid racial profiling, and plan for a potential influx of detainees.

The hardest-line approach is expected in the Phoenix area, where Arpaio plans to start his 17th crime and immigration sweep on Thursday. He plans to hold the sweep regardless of any ruling by U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton. Arpaio, known for his tough stance against illegal immigration, plans to send about 200 deputies and volunteers out, looking for traffic violators, people wanted on criminal warrants and others. He has used that tactic before to arrest dozens of people, many of them illegal immigrants.

“We don’t wait. We just do it,” he said. “If there’s a new law out, we’re going to enforce it.”
He said the space he made in the complex of military-surplus tents can handle 100 people and that he will find room for more if necessary.

Elsewhere in the state, police officials said they didn’t expect any dramatic events. They were busy wrapping up training sessions this week, with some agencies saying untrained officers will not be allowed on the streets.

Many of the state’s 15,000 police officers have been watching a DVD released earlier this month. It says signs that might indicate a person is an illegal immigrant are speaking poor English, looking nervous or traveling in an overcrowded vehicle. It warned that race and ethnicity are not signs.

Some agencies added extra materials, including a test, a role-playing exercise or a question-and-answer session with prosecutors.

Critics of the law among police chiefs remain, saying the law is so vague that no amount of training could eliminate potential confusion.

“Am I going to sit here and say I think every officer has a clear understanding of the law when they leave the training?” Tucson Police Chief Roberto Villaseñor said. “No, because I think the law is poorly constructed.”

Arizona’s law gives police two options to confirm whether a detainee is an illegal immigrant.

Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, would not comment on preparations or the role that federal authorities will play in enforcing the law, except to say that ICE “focuses first on criminal aliens who pose a threat to our communities.”

Arpaio vowed to arrest all illegal immigrants and make them spend time in his jail. Other police officials said they would try to get the Border Patrol involved as often as possible to avoid the time and cost of booking the detainees into jail.

Prosecutors also are preparing for an influx of cases. They are reminding officers that in each case, they are required to explain the circumstances of the original stop and why they suspect the person is an illegal immigrant.

A march from the state Capitol is planned for 4:30 a.m. Thursday, followed by a prayer service, a rally outside Arpaio’s office, and a concert later outside a Maricopa County jail, according to the Los Angeles-based National Day Laborer Organizing Network.

The protesters from Arizona and elsewhere plan to show up without identification and hold peaceful rallies, the network said.

“It’s defiance, to see if they want to come and arrest those people,” said Pablo Alvarado, the executive director of the network. “We dare them to come and ask.”

More articles on border issues

The north bound I-19 rest stop should be open in a few days.

The freeway rest stops were closed at the height of the state’s budget crisis.

You can’t imagine the relief this brings to a lot of old guys driving these routes.

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