There hasn't been much news for a while about the arrests of immigrants for conspiracy to be smuggled- yes, in maricopa county, az, immigrants were being arrested and charged under the new human smuggling law- not for doing the smuggling, but for conspiracy. So yesterday they got a conviction against an undocumented immigrant who allegedly paid $700 to be smuggled into the country. Some charges have been dropped due to lack of evidence and because some weren't talking (smart), and others plead guilty. Now they've got a conviction, which might spark more arrests. I haven't heard of any arrests for a while, which doesn't necessarily mean they haven't been happening.
It's very important to know about this. Basically they could arrest any undocumented immigrant (or anyone who looks like an immigrant), and if they can prove the immigrant paid to get into the country, they could convict. Adolfo Guzman-Garcia, the individual who was just convicted by a jury faces up to four years in prison.
Now you might be thinking that the police don't have the resources to arrest a bunch of people- which is true. Unless you're a big bully sheriff with a posse of volunteers- supported by anti-immigrant county attorney andrew thomas. That would be sheriff joe arpaio of maricopa county who has vocally expressed his interest in deterring immigration and has sent his posse out to arrest immigrants. Over 280 people have been arrested.
And what's extra creepy is that some guy who has posted in the saveourstate.org forums and has (or had?) anti-immigrant hate-speech on his shared blog is in sheriff joe's posse.
"Frankly, I would have shot them and put their bodies through a f*cking meat grinder," reads some August 22, 2005 commentary on the story about Casey Nethercott of a vigilante group called "Ranch Rescue" losing his ranch to immigrants who sued him for assaulting them with a gun. This commentary appears on a blog started by "Tarantulas." (Check out the story here. It seems he edited out the hate speech on his blog since this story came out).
Read more about the recent conviction.
Read more about the previous arrests.
Read more about the protest Phoenix Copwatch put on against these arrests.
Watch videos of sheriff joe regarding this issue.
