Arizona D.A. Uses Creative Lawyering to Fight Illegal Immigrant Invasion

Maricopa County, AZ Attorney Andrew Thomas and Sheriff Joe Arpaio have become the first law enforcement officers in the nation to prosecute illegal immigrants for conspiring with coyotes (people smugglers) to smuggle themselves into the country. This is a felony conviction and will prohibit illegal entrants convicted of it from ever becoming citizens. For far too long, authorities have simply caught and released illegals on their own recognizance for hearings at which they never appear. They are released from custody only to walk back across the border in no time. Hopefully, the word will get out and the prospect of hard time in jail will deter some of the invading hordes. They deserve a medal for their tenacity, strength, and creativity, described in this story and hopefully others in Arizona and throughout the country will follow suit.

"An Arizona jury returned a guilty verdict against an illegal immigrant for conspiracy with a coyote to smuggle himself into the country, a felony under Arizona law. Adolfo Guzman-Garcia will be sentenced for a class 4 felony, punishable by up to 3.75 years in prison, on December 5, 2006. Almost 336 illegal immigrants have been arrested and 161 have already accepted guilty pleas offered by the Maricopa County Attorney's Office.

Thomas noted that it was the first time in U.S. history that an anti-smuggling law has been used to successfully prosecute illegal immigrants, by plea offers and now a jury verdict, describing the landmark decision, "The glacier of illegal immigration is starting to drip away. In Maricopa County, we will continue to keep the heat on until both smugglers and conspirators get the message." (Apparently global warming is occurring in Arizona?)

Since Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas and Sheriff Joe Arpaio began enforcing the law against illegal immigrants in March of this year, the numbers of illegal immigrants attempting to cross the Mexico-Arizona border has decreased. Arpaio declared, "The word is out, don't come through Arizona. Instead they are heading for California or Nevada's border."

So far, the Maricopa County Attorney's Office has achieved a 90% conviction rate of those arrested. Detractors have criticized the Maricopa County Attorney's Office for a legal opinion it provided Arpaio with that confirmed the anti-smuggling law could be applied not just to coyotes, but to illegal immigrants through Arizona's conspiracy statute. Unless specifically exempted by the legislature, conspiracy laws apply to all felonies. One coyote has been convicted by a jury.

"So far we have won every substantive battle," Thomas said. Although a few left wing defense attorneys, including ones selected by the Mexican government, have challenged application of the law in court, it has withheld judicial scrutiny and has been upheld. Maricopa County Judge Thomas O'Toole presided over the trial of Guzman-Garcia. Both Judge O'Toole and Maricopa County Superior Court Judge David Cole denied motions by defense attorneys to dismiss the complaints, ruling that the application of the smuggling law was not preempted by federal law nor conflict with state law. O'Toole had dismissed one complaint earlier this year against an illegal immigrant when it got to a jury, stating that all of the elements of the crime ("corpus delicti") hadn't been satisfied, but in this second case, held an evidentiary hearing where he found there was enough of a basis to send it to a jury."