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Brain -> RE: Maricopa County AZ 40% drop in Illegal Aliens (3/9/2011 12:29:17 PM)
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In my opinion you get more flies with honey so I don't think it's the crackdown. It's hard to say if you're not familiar with the place but according to the article it's the following:
"Explanations for the decline in immigrants in Maricopa County jails generally break along political lines.
Immigration-enforcement advocates credit Arizona's track record of controversial legislation, including Senate Bill 1070, and vocal lawmen like Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio for creating an atmosphere that discourages illegal immigrants from staying in Maricopa County.
It seems like a local government's policies and its positions can cause a real drop in the illegal-immigration population," said Steven Camarota, director of research with the Center for Immigration Studies, a research institute that supports strict immigration enforcement. "With all those caveats of 'It's an imperfect measure,' it does seem that the decline in Arizona was much more manifest than elsewhere."
Immigrant-rights advocates, however, point to the economy as a key factor driving illegal immigrants out of Arizona, just as the recession led to a decline in undocumented immigrants around the nation.
Many also believe newer ICE programs such as Secure Communities play a role. The Secure Communities program shares information with the federal government on every suspect who is fingerprinted by a law-enforcement agency in Arizona, which could contribute to an overall increase in deportations from the state. These immigrants are caught by ICE before they are ever booked into county jail on state charges.
More than half of immigrants ICE has deported from Maricopa County through the Secure Communities program either did not commit any serious offenses or did not commit a criminal offense at all, according to the agency's data. ICE policies authorize the removal of those immigrants when resources are available.
"That's of course one of the huge critiques of Secure Communities: a number of people identified through the program have no criminal offense attached to their record, are not charged with any criminal offense or are eventually not convicted of a criminal offense," said Victoria Lopez of the American Civil Liberties Union in Arizona.
Lopez said that Secure Communities likely has contributed to the decline in county-jail bookings.
"Removals are still up, detentions are still up, there are no empty detention beds, immigration courts are at full-plus capacity on their immigration dockets," Lopez said. "It's not as if immigration enforcement is not happening."
Both sides agree, however, that no single factor could account for such a significant drop in the number of ICE detainers, or immigration-status checks, placed on Maricopa County inmates."
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