County Sheriff Joe Arpaio - leading Mesa, Arizona in cracking down on human smuggling

Mesa, Arizona's City Council passed an ordinance empowering the city police force to give drivers a parking citation for stopping to pick up day laborers at two city intersections well-known as illegal alien gathering spots. But previously, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio had set up a telephone hotline to gather tips from the public about criminal activity, such as human smuggling. Within the first 18 hours of its operation, the hotline received 100 calls, ranging from reports of suspected drop houses to businesses hiring undocumented workers.

The hotline is part of a crackdown the sheriff's office launched to combat human smuggling of undocumented immigrants. Arpaio deputized 64 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents so they can act as both federal and local law enforcement agents. "We are quickly becoming a full-fledged anti-illegal immigration agency," the sheriff said.

Arpaio also said that about 160 armed sheriff's deputies, reserves and volunteer posse, cross-trained to enforce immigration law, would begin saturating Valley cities as well as roadways and highways commonly used as transportation corridors for human trafficking.

The sheriff said his deputies would target vehicles commonly used to move human cargo to destinations inside and outside the county. If a vehicle is stopped for probable cause, deputies can question occupants about their immigration status and arrest and jail them if they're undocumented. The sheriff's office started arresting undocumented immigrants in the spring of 2006.