The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit reversed a federal district court in Arizona and vacated a preliminary injunction in favor of The Puente Organization that stopped enforcement of Arizona identity theft laws passed in 2007. The Arizona laws were aimed at stopping the flood of identity theft cases which plagued the State of Arizona and gave it the dubious distinction of being the worst state in the U.S. for identity theft.
A substantial number of identity theft cases were directly related to employment related fraud.
In Jan. 2015, the U.S. District Court in Arizona originally granted an injunction putting the identity theft laws on hold. That hold is now lifted. The Court of Appeals agreed with Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s counsel, Michele Iafrate, that the identity theft laws are neutral- they apply to everyone “unauthorized aliens, authorized aliens and U.S. citizens alike.”
“I do not and have not selected what laws should be enforced,” said Sheriff Joe Arpaio, “now that the 9th Circuit has set aside the injunction, the laws of Arizona, all of them including identity theft laws, should be enforced.”
Arpaio continued, “I already have procedures in place as a result of my written agreement with the Department of Justice in our earlier litigation. I will be reviewing these procedures in the very near future for enforcement operations. I have not yet decided when or if to resurrect identity theft enforcement.”
Deputy Chief Jack MacIntyre says the Puente organization has constantly attacked Sheriff Arpaio and his officers about the enforcement of the laws in Arizona as it applies to all the people, unauthorized aliens, authorized aliens and U.S. Citizens, even stooping so low as to suggest arrests for enforcing our laws. Some in that group have even worn t-shirts suggesting Sheriff Arpaio be arrested without cause.