The Maricopa County Sheriff has demanded for the eighth time in as many months, an explanation as to why ICE continually releases illegal migrants convicted of crimes back onto the streets of Maricopa County. Sheriff Joe Arpaio is pressing his demand in a letter expedited to the Inspector General of Homeland Security.
In addition, Arpaio’s letter reiterates his intention to renew his call for a congressional investigation if answers and action are not forthcoming.
The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, located in the most populated Arizona county and just thirty miles from the border, has compiled figures showing that of the 379 illegal immigrants arrested by local law enforcement in Maricopa County in August 2014, 128, or 33.7% of the total group, are repeat offenders. This mirrors what has happened every month of this year, when at least one-third of all illegal immigrants arrested by Sheriff’s deputies and police officers are repeat offenders. In fact, according to the Sheriff’s Office, adding the totals for 2014 together, of the 3,547 ICE detainers placed on incoming criminal offenders, 1,277 or 36 percent of the whole, were repeat offenders.
Arpaio says that the crimes are not insignificant and in August alone, one illegal alien with 12 prior arrests, including four ICE detainers, was arrested again, and this time on attempted murder charges.
That crime was hardly unique in its violence or seriousness, for many illegal aliens have been charged with committing every variety of crime including kidnapping, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, armed robbery, child molestation, sexual abuse, conspiracy, dangerous drugs, and more, according to the Sheriff.
This August, one illegal alien had 25 prior arrests, with nine prior ICE detainers, before being arrested this time. According to the Sheriff, some illegal immigrants have been arrested more than a dozen. In point of fact, the 128 repeat offenders in July account for 214 separate charges.
Arpaio notes that he has no doubt the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Johnson, the head of ICE and the DHS Inspector General, are tired to receiving his letters. Nevertheless, the Sheriff has pledged to not give up and to make certain that proper action is taken.
Arpaio, who has worked in Mexico and on the US border for twelve years as the top US Drug Enforcement Administration official, and for the past twenty-two years as the Sheriff of Maricopa County, says he vows to continue fighting international crime. “The answer is not complicated,” says Arpaio. “Do what the law says by deporting these criminals, and then make sure they don’t come back.”
“Everyone in the world knows the border is open,” says Arpaio. “Don’t you think the terrorists know it, too?”
In his letter to the Inspector General, the Sheriff offered to “help” the federal government in any way possible “to get these criminals put away or deported, and beyond that, to construct a workable, smart policy to deal with these issues.”