Moreno's Mexican Grill Target of Joe Arpaio's Latest Employer Sanctions Raid Which Targeted Employees

Maricopa County is now safe from six illegal immigrants who were allegedly using stolen identities to work at a Mexican restaurant in Chandler.

That's right, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office conducted its latest illegal immigrant roundup at Moreno's Mexican grill in Chandler this morning. It netted a total of six arrests.

The MCSO says it received information that 14 illegal immigrants were using fake IDs in order to work at the restaurant. Only six were arrested today -- which is a vast improvement from the last time the sheriff went gangbusters on a Valley business in search of illegal immigrants.

Last week, Arpaio's boys in beige raided a Days Inn hotel in downtown Phoenix. The result: one arrest.

Per usual, Sheriff Joe Arpaio is trying to church-up the immigrant roundup, calling the raid an "employer sanctions operation." Also per usual, no employers were arrested -- just employees.

When asked if any employers were arrested, MCSO Officer Chris Hegstrom tells New Times "at this time, I can tell you we arrested six employees for using false identification."

Again, precisely zero employers were arrested during the sheriff's "employer sanctions operation" this morning -- but that's because the raid had nothing to do with sanctions for people who hire illegal immigrants; it was just your run-of-the-mill MCSO immigrant roundup under the guise of an "employer sanctions operation."

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2011/09/morenos_mexican_grill_target_o.php

Maricopa County Sheriff deputies faulted in ID-theft case

Maricopa County sheriff's deputies violated the constitutional rights of two Hispanic men when they stopped and detained the men as part of a 2009 identity-theft investigation at a landscaping company, according to a federal judge's ruling Monday.

U.S. District Judge David G. Campbell ruled that Sheriff Joe Arpaio's deputies had no reason to stop Julian and Julio Mora before dawn on Feb. 11, 2009, nor any reason to make a warrantless arrest when deputies detained the Moras for nearly three hours.

The only reason the arresting deputies had to detain the men, according to Campbell's ruling, was because Julian Mora told deputies that he worked at Handyman Maintenance Inc., where sheriff's deputies were searching for suspected identity thieves.

Sheriff's deputies arrested 60 employees during the raid on the business, out of 109 employees at the site, on suspicion of a variety of crimes, ranging from fraud and identity theft to immigration violations.

Julian Mora's admission that he worked someplace where deputies suspected wrongdoing was not enough for the deputies to believe Julian Mora committed a crime, Campbell wrote.

"Any mistakes on the part of the John Doe deputies, even if made in good faith, were not 'those of reasonable men, acting on facts leading sensibly to their conclusions of probability,' " Campbell wrote.

Tim Casey, an attorney representing the Sheriffs Office, said the sheriff's defense was hampered because sheriff's officials were never able to identify the deputies who stopped the Moras.

More than 100 deputies were on scene that day, but without those who stopped the Moras, the judge was left to rule on the Moras version of events, Casey said.

"Without that, there was no testimony on why they were stopped," Casey said. "It was lack of evidence. They won because there's no evidence on that."

As important as Campbell's ruling is to the Moras, it bears more significance for the future of Arpaio's work-site enforcement operations, said Dan Pochoda, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union in Arizona, which represented the Moras.

Campbell also ruled that the arrests were the result of Arpaio's enforcement policies and that Maricopa County is liable for how those policies are enforced.

"It's the first test of their workplace raid policy, a plan they repeated many times," said Pochoda, who added that the ruling could serve as a deterrent. "It's a very important win."

http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2011/04/25/20110425arpaio-deputies-ruling-id-theft.html

Glendale police union backs Arizona's immigrant crackdown

by Dustin Gardiner - Apr. 20, 2010 08:27 AM
The Arizona Republic

One of Glendale's police officer unions is endorsing an effort by state lawmakers to give Arizona some of the toughest immigration laws in the nation.

Senate Bill 1070 would make illegal immigration a misdemeanor offense under state law, allowing local law enforcement officers to detain individuals on suspicion of being in the country illegally if they cannot produce a valid government ID or registration card.

The bill is expected to head toward Gov. Jan Brewer's desk for a signature within the coming days.

Officer Justin Harris, president of the Glendale Law Enforcement Association, said the bill gives police, who are only charged with enforcing state laws, the power to detain undocumented immigrants and turn them over to federal Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents.

"It takes the handcuffs off law enforcement," he said. "Our hands are tied without these laws in place."

Harris said the bill's sponsor, Sen. Russell Pearce of Mesa, approached GLEA and other police unions at the start of the legislative session to secure their support.

Opponents of the bill say it would promote racial profiling and prevent potential witnesses from coming forward or cooperating with police out of fear they could be deported.

"I get calls from mothers whose 15-year-old daughters get raped and they're afraid to call police," said Hector Yturralde, a Latino activist and former president of the Arizona Hispanic Community Forum.

"All these laws being passed are nothing but Jim Crow wannabes," he added, referring to laws in the Old South enforcing white supremacy.

Harris said the undocumented community has no reason to fear police will be overzealous to the point of arresting victims or witnesses.

"We're not going to treat the victim as a criminal," he said.

Given the budget cuts facing Glendale and other cities, Yturralde questions why police would use their limited resources to pursue people for "minor" immigration violations when they could be going after hardened criminals.

Harris argues that by taking illegal immigrants off the streets, police will be preventing future crimes they might commit.

He said someone who "sneaks past border agents through the desert and under fences" knows they're doing something illegal and is more likely to commit other crimes.

"If we can focus on stopping the less serious crime, that in itself stops crime," Harris said.

Yturralde said there's no clear evidence to support claims that illegal immigrants commit crimes in higher numbers.

"Not even the FBI has these statistics," he said. "This is absolutely insane."

Glendale's other law enforcement union, the Fraternal Order of Police, has not taken a position on the legislation.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/glendale/articles/2010/04/20/20100420-glendale-az-police-union-backs-immigrant-crackdown.html

Mesa cop makes obscene gesture at pro-immigrant protesters

Mesa police plan to discipline an officer who admitted making an obscene gesture as he drove past pro-immigrant protesters Wednesday in a marked police vehicle.

Sgt. Mike Doherty, a 20-year veteran, admitted he made obscene gestures "due to his general distaste for protesters," according to Holly Hosac, a Mesa police spokeswoman.

Doherty was in uniform when he passed about 30 members of Immigrants Without Borders, an immigrant advocacy group that has protested in the past against crackdowns on undocumented immigrants by Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas and Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

The group was protesting peacefully at Alma School Road and Main Street. Several group members reported an officer displaying an obscene gesture twice as he drove past them. Information from witnesses led police to identify Doherty.

"While Doherty stated that he did not know what the demonstration was about, he acknowledged his actions were inappropriate and unprofessional," Hosac wrote in a press release.

Police Chief George Gascón said the department is required to respect the Constitutional rights of everyone, saying, "there is no justifiable reason for this type of behavior."

Police said disciplinary action against Doherty is pending but did not elaborate.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0906obscene0906-on.html