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Flushing Them Out

Continued from page 7

Published on December 27, 2007

Sergeant Fred Zumbo, a DPS officer who has had the 287-g training, says DPS is more focused on bringing down organized crime rings.

"Our goal is to get into the organizations and cripple them," he says. "But the corn vendor on the street is not a law enforcement problem. We are small and focused on the human smuggling aspect of the law because those are the ones causing the most problems in the community."

Until recently, local police chiefs, most notably in Phoenix and Mesa, have shared this sentiment and resisted the pressure to become immigration enforcers. But earlier this month, Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon announced he'd appointed a four-man committee to consider repealing a public order that prohibits the Phoenix police from questioning immigration status.

So far, Mesa police Chief George Gascon has stayed strong in his stance against the sheriff's policies, though not without consequences — Arpaio has recently made it a point to step on the chief's toes.

Gascon declined an interview for this story. His public information officer, Chris Arvaio, says he's decided to stick to addressing the issue at press conferences rather than grant individual interviews anymore. Every time he does, the sheriff retaliates.

"After the first couple interviews we found out real quick that we don't want to play political games," says Arvaio. "I think he [Gascon] is tired of every time he makes a comment it turns into a game."

And, in spite of Gascon's stance on the matter, the Mesa City Council decided in early December to send a letter to Michael Chertoff, secretary of Homeland Security, asking for immigration training for Mesa police officers in their jails. So far, there is no push to train officers on patrol.

The situation with the police has become so bad that even legal immigrants and citizens are afraid. Miguel Gomez-Acosta, pastor at the Lutheran Mission of San Pedro and member of the Valley Interfaith Project, moved to Phoenix from Seattle last year and still isn't accustomed to living in Maricopa County.

"I carry my passport and I carry my daughter's birth certificate," he says. "I grew up in this country. I served in the military and became a citizen, and despite that, I still have to carry my passport and my daughter's birth certificate because she looks brown. Like me."

There has been at least one case in which his deputies detained a man, Manuel de Jesus Ortega Melendres, who had legal paperwork. He was pulled over outside Good Shepherd of the Hills in Cave Creek and detained for nine hours, even though he had a legal visa. The man's lawyers have filed a lawsuit against Arpaio in federal court.

Antonio Bustamante, the Phoenix lawyer fighting the smuggling law, says probable cause and due process rights are being violated but says that's hard to prove in court. All the witnesses get deported.

"Arpaio is doing racial profiling, though he says he's not. Who's going to prove otherwise — especially people who get thrown out of the country. You got rid of the witnesses. You can do whatever you want," he says. "'The public loves me,' he always touts. 'I'm doing what they people want.' Well, so did [Jim Clark] in Selma."

Arpaio insists that his deputies do not engage in racial profiling. Barnarrdino, a 27-year-old immigrant from Guatemala, disagrees. Barnarrdino came to Arizona six years ago with a coyote, by way of Mexico, after life in Guatemala became too violent for him. When his apartment was robbed by two men carrying a grenade and semiautomatic rifles, he decided it was time to get out of the country, regardless of the consequences in the United States. He says he doesn't regret coming to Arizona to live, but his run-ins with the police have not been pleasant.

About three months ago, he says he was leaving a movie theater with his wife when he caught the eye of two sheriff's deputies.

"I said to my wife, 'Watch, they're going to follow us," he says through a translator on the steps of his central Phoenix church.

They did and one of the deputies pulled him over.

"He came to the car and asked me, 'How many drinks did you have tonight, wetback?' I told him I don't drink," he says. "He asked me, 'Are you a wetback?' I didn't answer, so he made me get out of the car."

The officer forced him to take a Breathalyzer test and conducted field sobriety tests on Barnarrdino. He passed each one. He hadn't been drinking; he'd been at the movies. He says the officer also asked his wife, who is Mexican but has a pale complexion, "What are you doing with a wetback?" The officer also harassed him because his identification was from the Guatemalan consulate.

"I gave him my ID and he asked how much I paid for it. I told him $80 at the consulate office. He asked where I got it and I gave him the address of the consulate," he says. "After a while he let me go, but he told me if he ever sees me again, I will sit in jail for a very long time."

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