If Phoenix police chief and a couple of Arizona Sheriffs dispute the need for the new immigration law?

Then why do people say that it's desperately needed? Is this just a political move gone really bad by people in office in Phoenix?

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Phoenix police chief disputes right's claim that AZ law is needed because of violent crime

Conservative media have defended Arizona's controversial new immigration law by suggesting the law is necessary to fight violent crime. Phoenix police chief Jack Harris has rejected this claim, and he and many other law enforcement officials have argued that the law will distort police priorities.

Chief Harris: We have the tools that we need to enforce laws in this state to reduce property crime and to reduce violent crime, to go after criminals that are responsible for human smuggling, to go after criminals that are responsible for those home invasions, kidnappings, robberies, murders. We have those tools.

Pima County Sheriff: "We don't need this law." Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik stated in an April 7 taped interview with KGUN9-TV that the law is "unnecessary" and that he won't enforce it. He added, "We're going to keep doing what we've been doing all along. We don't need this law. We're going to stop and detain these people for the Border Patrol."

Arizona Police Chiefs: SB 1070 interferes with police work. The Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police stated that SB 1070 "will negatively affect the ability of law enforcement agencies across the state to fulfill their many responsibilities in a timely manner."

Yuma County Sheriff: "We don't have enough people to be doing what we're supposed to be doing anyway." Yuma County Sheriff Ralph Ogden opposed the passage of SB 1070, citing the cost of detaining individuals and a "'12 percent reduction in force availability' for each incident, where a deputy would be tied up investigating someone's immigration status," according to a Phoenix New Times post. The post further reported that Ogden stated, "[I]f you start spending less time on property crimes and personal crimes, you don't want to do that":
http://mediamatters.org/research/201005060024

getmoney

Those Sheriff's and the police chief know what's really going on especially the ones working near the border. This law is not needed.

Los Mojados

I guess you have to live here to understand these people. Dupnik is the sheriff in a county full of Mexicans. The Mexican mafia runs pima county. The Phoenix cop is a shill for democratic interest in Phoenix. He is also a Union man and the unions don't want to do more work. The rest of the state is solid on the issue. The only people against it are the Mexicans, illegals and journalists that don't want to be targeted by Mexican gangs.

American Patriot

These Sheriffs And Chiefs Are Probably On The Payroll Of The Cartel
They Need To Be Dismissed
And Replaced With Some Real Americans
That Are Determined To Enforce The Law

These Arizona Lawmakers And Enforcers
ESPECIALLY Brewer And Arpaio
Are Under A Great Deal Of Scrutiny
Because They Are Going Against All The Backroom Politics
That Have Been In Place Regarding This Issue Since The Early Eighties
While Adhering To The Guidelines Of The Constitution
And The Law Of The Land

These People Are True Patriots

My Applause And Admiration To All Of Them
For Having The Fortitude
To Stand Up And Look Corrupt Government In The Face
And Telling Them To Go FCK Themselves

smsmith500

Its not their decision to make. The government of the State made the decision, its their job to carry out the will of the people.

Mitzieee

Republicans...enough said!

chmacqueen

What a load of crock. They simply don't want all the extra work that would be involved from actually checking papers of those arrested and then contacting and coordinating with immigration officials and the load of paperwork and fighting that what they did is legal and just. Then the pressure they have on them from outside sources which could include family and friends with different views.

All one has to do is look at real statistics of crimes commited. Its been estimated recently 30% of the southern prisons population is illegals or children of illegals. Then look at all the court, paperwork, and cost associated with. Then add in the number of those who are convicted of crimes related to illegals or drugs that came in via the boarder and illegal means (using illegals to carry and smuggle), along with all the extra crime connected to.

The downside is the law will help reduce the number of illegals in arizona a bit and possibly in Arizona prisons over time but won't put any real dent in the illegal immigration problem or make it better until more states and the federal government get behind it.

Charles R

I say, fire the chief and the 2 deputies.

Country Gal

Because our jails are filled with illegal alien criminals.

- FOXNews.com
- April 30, 2010
Border States Deal With More Illegal Immigrant Crime Than Most, Data Suggest

Arizona lawmakers say their new immigration enforcement law will them fight an illegal immigrant crime wave that is sweeping the state, a claim that is backed by studies and statistics that suggest border states have a disproportionately high number of criminals who are illegal immigrants.

Arizona lawmakers say their new immigration enforcement law will help them fight an illegal immigrant crime wave that is sweeping the state, a claim that is backed by studies and statistics that suggest border states have a disproportionately high number of criminals who are illegal immigrants.

"We've been inundated with criminal activity. It's just -- it's been outrageous," Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer told Fox News.

"Crime is off the chart in this state," added Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, president of the Arizona Association of Sheriffs.

Critics have called Arizona officials racist, intolerant and downright unconstitutional for passing the law, which makes illegal immigration a state crime and allows police to demand documentation from anyone they suspect is an illegal immigrant.

While the correlation between illegal immigrants and crime is almost impossible to quantify precisely, the available numbers indicate that Arizona -- as well as California and Texas -- are dealing with increased crime as a result of high illegal immigrant populations and activity.

Part of this is because some of those immigrants are being arrested based on immigration-related charges. A Pew Hispanic Center report last year said "increased enforcement" of immigration laws accounts for part of the trend.

But there are other crimes, many of which are drug-related. Furthermore, illegal immigrants and smuggling organizations have been linked to some specific violent crimes in Arizona. Local officials frequently cite the rash of kidnappings in their state in defending the new law. The Department of Justice's latest National Drug Threat Assessment says there were 267 kidnappings in Phoenix last year and 299 in 2008. The report said the victims usually have a connection to immigrant smuggling groups or drug traffickers.

The report also showed that assaults against U.S. law enforcement on the southwestern border are on the rise. The report found that the number of attacks on Border Patrol agents increased 46 percent to 1,097 incidents in fiscal 2008. The report said the assaults were mostly related to immigrant smuggling.

Together, Arizona, California and Texas are now home to 4.7 million of the 11 million illegal immigrants the Department of Homeland Security estimates are in the country.

Other states with high illegal immigrant populations -- like Illinois -- do not have a lot of illegal immigrant prisoners. Federal statistics show the illegal immigrant population is actually underrepresented in Illinois prisons.

But a comprehensive study released late last year from the Center for Immigration Studies cited federal law enforcement data showing that illegal immigrants made up a disproportionate share of the state prison populations in California and Arizona.

In 2004, the year when the data was most recently available, 12.4 percent of California prisoners were illegal immigrants, as compared with an estimated 6.9 percent of the state population. In Arizona, 11.1 percent of the prison population was undocumented, compared with 7 percent of the overall state population. In Texas, the percentage was also slightly higher in the prisons than it was statewide.

A Government Accountability Office study from 2005 also found that most illegal immigrant arrests were happening in California, Texas and Arizona. The study sampled a prison population of more than 55,000 illegal immigrants, and found that 80 percent of all the arrests were in those three states.

But overall, it's hard to say that illegal immigrants have triggered a crime explosion in any of these states, though the recent killing of Arizona rancher Robert Krentz by a suspected illegal immigrant has served as a rallying cry for advocates of tougher enforcement.

FBI statistics show California and Texas had a violent crime average slightly higher than the national average 2008, while Arizona's average was slightly lower.

Jessica Vaughan, a co-author of the Center for Immigration Studies report and policy director at the think tank, said the bottom line is that connections between illegal immigrants and crime are hard to draw.

"We didn't find any evidence to support the idea that either immigrants are more prone to crime or less prone to crime than ... legally resident Americans," she said. "It's very tricky."

Vaughan said part of the problem is that no federal database keeps a dependable count of how many illegal immigrants are convicted of crimes. Federal prison

li lung

The reason the law had to be written is because some police were ignoring the federal laws, which they are supposed to uphold. So now they are ordered to do it. There is no waste of money if you deport immediately.

Mall cop

the cop is just another lazy liberal, nuff said.

Eric

I applaud them for standing up to this controversial law.
They know that it's not needed, but the Republicans will still shove something down the people's throats. It's in their nature.

Mr. 2Cents

It's Repbulican state! Do you actually expect them to do things the logical way?

sk8rchick

It's not needed, but Jan Brewer sure needed the votes, but now with all the opposition and the boycotting, she just lost those votes. HE HE!

Victor

It's not a liberal state, so of course they don't want a bunch of lazy freeloading criminals there.

Raul

AZ should just stop wasting da money and open the border, Thye cant stop us from coming in.

George C

of course they are against it, less time spent eating donuts

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