Police officials in Arizona’s largest city have quietly implemented a new policy banning officers from contacting the feds after arresting an illegal alien and forbidding them from asking about immigration status, in violation of key provisions of a state law upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. Judicial Watch obtained a copy of the Phoenix Police Department’s new sanctuary Immigration Procedures, which also replace the term “illegal alien” with “a person unlawfully present.” It appears to be part of a broader scheme to dodge federal immigration laws in Arizona’s most populous county.
Earlier this year Judicial Watch reported that the newly elected sheriff in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, was releasing an average of 400 criminal illegal immigrants every 10 days. Many of them were violent offenders, but the sheriff, Paul Penzone, released them from Maricopa County Jail facilities, to protect them from deportation. The illegal aliens had state criminal charges ranging from misdemeanors to felonies, driving under the influence and drug offenses. “There’s no telling how many criminals he’s (Sheriff Penzone) putting on the streets,” a high-ranking federal law enforcement official stationed in Arizona told Judicial Watch. Under a longtime partnership between the county and the feds, the Phoenix field office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was notified when “aliens unlawfully present with additional Arizona charges” were released from the Maricopa County Jail, which is one of the nation’s largest with a population of about 8,000. That ended when Penzone, who refers to illegal immigrants as “guests,” took office this year. -- More...
