Arpaio raids Mesa City Hall; mayor outraged

Mayor outraged by sweep for illegal migrants

My Hero Joe has big balls..........................Go Joe ! Good job !

Sheriff Joe Arpaio traded angry words and accusations with Mesa officials Thursday after 60 deputies and posse members armed with search warrants stormed City Hall and the public library in the middle of the night in a hunt for illegal workers.

"I believe the safety of our citizens was gravely compromised" when Maricopa County sheriff's deputies in "battle gear" swept into city buildings about 2 a.m. while cleaning crews were at work, Mesa Mayor Scott Smith told reporters. "I believe we had set the scene where bad things could have happened."

Arpaio defended his tactics, claiming the raid came only after a former city employee called the sheriff's illegal-immigration hotline to report that a cleaning company under contract with the city was hiring illegal immigrants.

Deputies fanned out and arrested three people; 13 others, including a manager at Management Cleaning Controls, were arrested at residences later that morning, Arpaio said. Ten were arrested on suspicion of identity theft and six for potentially being in the country illegally.

The 16 arrested included six people who were not named in the warrants. Arpaio said they are still looking for 15 more company employees.

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