Hundreds of Criminal Aliens Released onto Streets by Arizona’s New Sheriff

By Jim Kouri  //  ConservativeBase.com

The citizens of Maricopa County, Arizona, decided to replace their tough and effective sheriff with one who is “married” to the progressive — and politically correct — policy of providing sanctuary to illegal immigrants.  The new sheriff’s policy includes criminal aliens who’ve committed acts of violence will not be turned over to federal law enforcement.

Democratic Party minions and open-borders activists mounted an unprecedented campaign to elect a Democratic sheriff to replace a national hero.

After mounting an intense and expensive anti-Sheriff Joe Arpaio campaign in Maricopa County, Arizona — a campaign that allegedly included millions of dollars donated by multi-billionaire left-wing activist George Soros — the Democrats and their fellow-travelers in the news media finally removed Arpaio from office and replaced him with their own chosen lawman.

As was expected, the new sheriff of Maricopa County — which includes the city of Phoenix — quickly jumped on the “sanctuary county” bandwagon, according to arguably the nation’s most successful government watchdog groups.

A crackdown on dangerous sanctuary policies for illegal immigrants can’t come a moment too soon as Americans are looking for President Donald Trump to make good on his promises. 

“As with our most recent court challenge to San Francisco, Judicial Watch has been a leader (and often the only) legal opponent to sanctuary policies that ignore federal and state laws concerning illegal immigration at the expense of the public’s safety, the rule of law, and our national security.  Now, with a Trump administration that might actually join Judicial Watch in going after sanctuary policies, the radicals in sanctuary cities are doubling down,” said officials at Judicial Watch, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group that investigates and exposes government corruption especially at the federal level. 

Hundreds of criminal aliens are being freed every 10 days by the man who replaced the nation’s most famous sheriff in Arizona’s most populous county, Judicial Watch reports. And many of them are violent offenders.

Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone claims his new policy is meant to protect illegal aliens from deportation, even the lawbreakers who’ve committed serious offenses.  Penzone’s policy is a shift in the partnership between former Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the Phoenix office of the Homeland Security Department’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Sheriff Arpaio would notify ICE agents when aliens unlawfully present in the U.S. who face additional criminal charges were released from jail. Maricopa County boasts one of the nation’s largest detention facilities with an inmate population of about 8,000.

Maricopa County’s new sheriff is turning what was a model law enforcement policy into another sanctuary for criminal aliens.

While Arpaio became legendary to many Americans throughout the nation as one of history’s top lawmen, his policy ended when Penzone, who calls illegal immigrants our “guests,” took over the law enforcement department this year.

Weekdays are the busiest for the deputies of Maricopa’s Sheriff’s Office, with about 40 criminal aliens being released from the Jail facilities, the sources told Judicial Watch. On weekends the number drops to about ten each day. The illegal aliens have criminal charges that are misdemeanors or felonies. Driving under the influence (DUIs) and drug offenses account for the growth in the jail population. 

“There’s no telling how many criminals he’s [Sheriff Penzone] putting on the streets,” a high-ranking federal law enforcement official stationed in Arizona told Judicial Watch.

When Sheriff Penzone discussed the policy change from that of Sheriff Arpaio to his own at a press conference last week, ICE issued its own statement calling Penzone’s policy shift an “immediate, dangerous change.”

The ICE’s Phoenix director for enforcement and removal operations (ERO), Enrique Lucero, was quoted as saying: “Immigration detainers have been a successful enforcement tool to prevent the release of dangerous criminals to our streets and mitigate the possibility of future crimes being committed against the residents of our communities.”

“Judicial Watch has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to obtain specific figures and pertinent information related to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s policies involving criminal illegal aliens,” noted Judicial Watch.

It’s estimated that at least 100,000 members of the Latino gang MS-13 are living illegally in the U.S.

“Just this month an illegal immigrant released from the Denver County Jail in Colorado was arrested for murder. The Mexican national, Ever Valles, was released into the community in December even though he was a “known gang member” with a lengthy and violent criminal history. The 19-year-old gangbanger was arrested in October on multiple charges, including possession of a weapon and vehicle theft, and was flagged by ICE for removal. Instead, Denver County officials released Valles without notifying ICE and this month he was arrested and charged with shooting a man to death during a robbery at a rail station in Denver,” according to the watchdog group’s web site.