- Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio still isn't saying
when he will take his crime suppression patrols to Mesa.
-
- He says there's a reason for the delay -- he's giving
illegal immigrants a chance to get out of town.
-
- ``I'm giving them a chance to pack up and leave, so when
I do go in there, there may not be a big problem," he said.
-
- If an illegal immigrant needs a ride, Arpaio says, ``Call
602-876-1000 and we'll make arrangements. Maybe we'll even pick them up."
-
- Mesa Police Chief George Gascon has asked the sheriff
for two days notice before he does his patrols in Mesa, and Arpaio said
he will give police notice.
-
- In the meantime, ``The only message I can give to the
people here illegally is to pack up, take a bus, go back. If they want
a free ride, they can always call me... I'll be glad to take care of them,
especially those in Mesa. If they want to go back home, I'll be glad to
help them. Maybe I won't have any problems to enforce when I decide to
go to Mesa."
-
- Arpaio's Mesa patrols will follow patrols at two Phoenix
locations where day laborers gather and in the predominantly-Hispanic town
of Guadalupe on the Phoenix-Tempe border. Critics have attacked the patrols
as racial profiling. Arpaio denies that and says he just looking for criminals.
-
- Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon and others have asked the federal
government to investigate the patrols.
|
