Deported Illegal Immigrants Witnesses In Federal Probe
The Department of Justice is actually bringing deported illegal aliens back to the U.S. to be witnesses in a civil rights investigation of an Arizona sheriff’s department that enforces immigration law through a federal partnership.
It’s hardly the first time that the federal agency charged with defending the nation’s interests and ensuring its safety pulls this sort of stunt. In its quest to prosecute two Border Patrol gents who intercepted a Mexican drug smuggler in 2005, the Justice Department actually went to Mexico and offered the drug dealer immunity to testify against the veteran agents.
The agents (Ignacio Ramos and Jose Campean) were subsequently convicted on charges of causing serious bodily injury, assault with a deadly weapon, discharge of a firearm and violating the drug smuggler’s civil rights. The supposed victim and key witness was the Mexican illegal alien whose vehicle was intercepted with 743 pounds of U.S.-bound marijuana.
This week a Phoenix newspaper reports that the feds are at it again, using illegal immigrant violators as key witnesses in another high-profile case. It involves allegations of discrimination and unconstitutional searches and seizures on the part of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department and its elected leader Joe Arpaio. The feds are interviewing Hispanics who were arrested by the sheriff’s department, including those who were deported and have been brought back to the U.S. to testify.
The federal probe was requested by Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, an open borders advocate who offers illegal aliens sanctuary in his city. In a letter to the Justice Department last spring, Mayor Gordon demanded that the agency investigate “discriminatory harassment” and “improper” stops, searches and arrests by Maricopa County sheriff’s deputies who patrol the metropolitan area.
The Justice Department gladly obliged and proudly announced its civil rights investigation a few months ago, vowing to focus on whether deputies are engaging in racial profiling during immigration crackdowns. The sweeps have helped rid the area of numerous illegal aliens—some violent criminals who fell through the cracks—who should have been deported long ago and helped restore much-needed law and order in a Phoenix business district (36th & Thomas) rife with solicitation, trespassing, loitering and public health ordinance violations.
