The following is a press release from the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office:
PHOENIX -- Moving from the streets of Guadalupe and Phoenix into the desert, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Human Smuggling Unit intercepted three separate load vehicles in a two hour span last night in the vicinity of Wickenburg, Arizona, resulting in the arrests of 30 illegal aliens.

“As our deputies fight crime in the cities, towns and desert areas within the County, we are hitting the illegal immigration problem from every angle,” says the Sheriff. “Next, I will direct our operations to Mesa.”

Last night’s traffic stops were made between 6:30pm and 9:30pm.

In a Chrysler van eleven (11) illegal aliens including one smuggler, Gerardo Mendez-Ibanez (12/14/85), were being transported. Interviews with the occupants determined that each agreed to pay between $1,700.00 and $3,000.00 to be illegally smuggled into the United States and into the states of California and Oregon.

The second vehicle, a Ford Expedition, was found to have 12 illegal aliens including one smuggler, Manuel Santiago-Martinez (12/12/75). The occupants told investigators they agreed to pay between $400.00 and $1,000.00 to be illegally transported into the country and into the State of California.

The third vehicle, a Dodge Caravan, contained seven (7) occupants determined to be in the country illegally.

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office is and continues to be the only Arizona law enforcement agency arresting illegal aliens under all aspects of the state human smuggling law, employer sanctions law, and federal immigration law.

This is the fourth operation Arpaio’s deputies have carried out in as many weeks, and during 40 hours of operation made over 180 arrests, 103 of which suspects determined to be in the country illegally.

The Sheriff’s anti human smuggling team has now arrested 920 co-conspirators and smugglers under the class four felony charge of human smuggling, making them ineligible for bond.

Sheriff Arpaio maintains, “The solution to the illegal immigration problem is to arrest and jail violators of both state and federal immigration laws.”