Sheriff declares west Valley crime sweep a success

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has declared his latest crime suppression sweep, this one in the west Valley, a success.

The Sheriff's Office said today that a 30-hour operation, centered near Dysart and Bell Roads in Surprise, led to the arrests of 102 suspects, 81 of which were identified as being in the United States illegally. Of those 81 suspects, 32 were booked on state charges.

Eight people were arrested on outstanding warrants. About 100 deputies and posse members went out in rural areas of the west Valley Wednesday afternoon, with orders to enforce Arizona's human smuggling law.

Arpaio said the number of arrests ``shows you how serious this problem is. We continue to fight the problem, still being the only agency enforcing the state's human smuggling law."

The sheriff said he will continue his fight against illegal immigration.

``Hey, we're at war. Do you realize what's going on here? When we arrest all those people within a 24-hour period?"

The sheriff's latest operation followed similar controversial roundups in Phoenix, Guadalupe and Mesa.

Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard has said he is monitoring the sheriff's sweeps, which critics claim are racial profiling, aimed at Hispanics and illegal immigrants. Gov. Janet Napolitano has said she does not feel the operations are the best way to spend law enforcement funds.

The sheriff brushed aside the governor's remarks.

``I'm not changing. I'm doing my job. If the governor doesn't like it, that's her prerogative. I'm the sheriff, she's the governor. She's not going to tell me how to operate."

Goddard said he will have ``observers" following the Sheriff's office as it carries out crime suppression sweeps.

``To make sure that the laws, civil rights laws in particular, were not being violated," Goddard said, ``and we also had, of course, a great interest in public safety -- to make sure that the large number of demonstrators on both sides, a maximum effort was exerted to make sure that nobody got hurt."

Because of the ongoing investigation, Goddard declined to discuss what, if any, types of complaints have come to his attention in previous operations.