PCSO: Immigrant children lead to small spike in 911 calls to Arizona camp
Nov 11, 2014, 3:51 PM | Updated: 3:51 pm
PHOENIX — Law enforcement officials are spending a bit more time than usual at a southern Arizona camp housing dozens of Central American children who entered the United States illegally.
Between Aug. 1, 2013 and Oct. 8, 2013, Pinal County Sheriff’s deputies responded to eight 911 calls at the Sycamore Canyon Academy. After the facility began housing the immigrant children, the calls went up.
“None of the (2013) calls involved violence,” said Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu. “This year we had 13 calls during the same time period — eight of those calls involved violent acts, five of which were assault on teachers or students.”
The most recent call involved a 13-year-old Columbian child who allegedly attacked a 74-year-old night watchman when he had turned his back.
“He used a sock filled with several bars of soap, wielding it like at bat, striking the man in the back of the head and causing injury,” said Babeu.
The boy, Cristian Dakin, was booked into the Pinal County Juvenile Detention Center on two counts of aggravated assault.
Babeu believes there is a direct link between the increase of violence at the facility and the arrival of the unaccompanied minors, who were transported to the camp from Texas by the federal government. He said the humane response to the problem is to send them back to their countries of origin.
“Anyone who thinks up to 90,000 unaccompanied juveniles from Central America are going anywhere, think again,” he said. “That’s likely not going to happen under the Obama administration.”
