Immigration Problem Progress

So, the NY Crimes has an article (may revert to subscription only) about Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona doing something about immigration. You know this Sheriff...

Sheriff Joe Arpaio is a colorful and controversial character who has instituted severe policies at phoenix's Maricopa County Jail since taking office in 1993.
According to his bio on the Maricopa County Web site, he enjoys being known as "America's toughest sheriff."
He got nationwide attention when he established the Maricopa County tent city for inmates.
More than 2,000 prisoners live without smoking, coffee, pornographic magazines, movies and unrestricted television in all jails.
The eRumor says the meals cost less than 40 cents but the cost figure is actually less than 20 cents.
Arpaio has also instituted what he calls "Hard Knocks High", the only accredited high school in an American jail.
That, along with an anti-drug program, says Arpaio, has resulted in a high percentage of his inmates leaving jail without their addictions and few of them returning.

Nice. So the NY Crimes now tells the story about how the Sheriff is actually doing something in his county.

On Wednesday, the posse, a civilian force of 300 volunteers, many of them retired deputies, are to fan out over desert backcountry, watching for smugglers and the people they guide into these parts.

Already, a small team of deputies roams the human-trafficking routes to enforce a nine-month-old state law that makes smuggling people a felony and effectively authorizes local police forces to enforce immigration law.

So Arizona is fed up with the Federal government's lack of concern for their illegal immigrant problem and Sheriff Arpaio is taking full advantage of the new law. His constituents are happy, but the politicians that created the law?

Not only do deputies charge the smugglers, but many of their customers have also been jailed. That has drawn criticism from several quarters, even the politician who sponsored the law and has generally supported Sheriff Arpaio's position.

"That was not our intent," said the sponsor, State Representative Jonathan Paton, a Republican, who added that he would prefer to detain smuggled immigrants under trespassing laws, a move lawmakers are considering under a package of bills intended to crack down on illegal immigration.

Geez, quit the nitpicking. Typical politician that enacts a law but doesn't like the way that it is enforced. The answer is simple, write a law that is detailed enough that there is little ambiguity. In any case, Sheriff Arpaio is actually doing something meaningful. Right on brother!