First Arrests Under New Arizona Immigration Law Announced

ARIZONA (INAC News) - Three suspected illegal aliens were reported arrested in Southern Arizona early Sunday morning. News of the arrests are only now becoming public. According to Santa Cruz County Sheriff Juan Ojosbuenos, William Loper, Mary Daly, and Hans Kung were all spotted walking their dogs before dawn. The three suspects had their animals on leashes in a local park, cleaning up after the dogs had their morning constitutional. The three individuals are the first people detained under a controversial new law signed Friday by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer. Here is a transcript of a hastily called news conference from Sunday Evening. Sheriff Juan - Buenos dias, dejar me un momento hacer, oops, I forgot you all don’t speak Spanish. As I was saying, give me a moment to make a statement and then you can ask your questions. I want to say that the Sheriffs Department of Santa Cruz County acted completely within the new law. Governor Brewer signed the law Friday, and our job as members of the law enforcement community is to uphold that law, whether we agree with it or not. My officers saw the suspected illegal aliens walking their dogs in the park. As they approached the individuals, our officers felt something was just not quite right. When they asked each of the people for proof of citizenship, all they could produce were drivers licenses, Costco cards, and a host of credit cards, none of which can legally used to establish legal right to be in the United States. Since none of the three could prove citizenship, or provide the requested documentation, they were taken into custody. I am thankful the members of my department put aside their personal dislikes of this new law and did their job. Now I will take a few questions. Samuel Delamigra - La Opinion ~ Sheriff, how did you determine that these people might have been illegal? Sheriff Juan - It was very simple, we watched them, observed their actions, and from that, made an accurate judgement that this group of individuals was not from here, and therefore had to be here illegally. Maria Lamojada- Univision ~ But what was it that led you to initially suspect that these people were illegals? How did you justify probable cause? Sheriff Juan - First of all, they looked different from the rest of here in Southern Arizona. And then, they had their dogs on a leash. Come on Maria, you’re from Mexico, you know we don’t walk our dogs on leashes and we certainly don’t carry bags with us to pick up dog… uh, poop. Can I say that? Peter Lelo - Fox News ~ Hold on Sheriff, are you saying that you could tell these people are illegal based on how they looked and just their actions? Sheriff Juan - Yes I am. Look, you heard Congressman Bilbray on Friday didn’t you? He said you can tell people were illegal, or don’t belong, by the way they’re dressed, “right down to their shoes.”. All three of these people had nice clothes, designer shoes, and, well they just stood out. So we took them into custody. Peter Lelo - A follow up question Sheriff... you just looked at the people, and made a judgment based on that? Sheriff Juan - Peter, Peter, Peter... you know us better than that here. We looked at other things too. Like their car. It was a Volvo. Ain’t nobody around here driving a Volvo. We all drive Chevys man. That, and the fact it had dents from some intentional accidents, were real red flags. Those dents were real man, probably from an accident targeting us real citizens, like Senator McCain said. Look, here is what we did. We were patrolling an area where we have had some problems. In the course of that patrolling, we spotted three people in an area where they stood out and were acting in a way not consistent with the general population of that area. We stopped them and asked to see proof of their citizenship, which they were unable to produce. We then arrested them in accordance with the recent law signed by Governor Brewer. If they are innocent, as some people are telling me, when we see their birth certificates they will be released from custody. Until that time, they are in jail, awaiting arraignment. No mas preguntas. Gracias por su tiempo.