Maricopa County Attorney asks Condi Rice for Complaint Against Mexican Goverment

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In an attempt to undermine Arizona law Los Angeles lawyer Peter Schey,
at the request of Carlos Flores-Vizcarra, Consul General of Mexico, has
filed legal motions intended to thwart the prosecution of a "coyote"
and 48 illegal immigrant conspirators arrested by the Maricopa County
Sheriff's Office on March 2, 2006. 

INTERFERENCE BY MEXICO PROTESTED

Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas Asks State Department to Intervene

In a letter of protest to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice,
County Attorney Andrew Thomas today accused the government of Mexico of
interfering in the internal affairs of Arizona by attempting to void
Arizona's Human Smuggling statute, which was enacted by a bipartisan
majority of legislators and signed into law by Governor Janet
Napolitano.

In an attempt to undermine Arizona law Los Angeles lawyer Peter
Schey, at the request of Carlos Flores-Vizcarra, Consul General of
Mexico, has filed legal motions intended to thwart the prosecution of a
"coyote" and 48 illegal immigrant conspirators arrested by the Maricopa
County Sheriff's Office on March 2, 2006. If this attempt by the
Mexican Government succeeds, Thomas noted, the citizens of the State of
Arizona will be deprived of their right to uphold public order and to
protect themselves against the Mexican government's systematic,
unlawful export of humanity into the state.

"The Mexican government encourages those who are unhappy with
political, economic and social conditions in Mexico to flee to America
to seek unlawful employment here and to send back to Mexico an
estimated 16 billion dollars", Thomas said.

The 48 illegal immigrant conspirators have been offered the
opportunity to plead guilty in return for a reduced sentence. To date
four defendants, Sergio Perez-Santos, Baltazar Ramirez Solano, Roman
Gomez and Omar Soto-Lopez, have pled guilty to the crime of
Solicitation to Commit Human Smuggling, a 6 Felony. Besides the felony
designated, they have served 60 days in the county jail, will be placed
on probation for three years, and will be deported to Mexico.
Additional guilty pleas are expected.

###

May 9, 2006

The Honorable Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of State
United States Department of State
2201 C Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20520

Dear Secretary Rice:

This letter is to request respectfully that the U.S. Department of
State lodge a formal protest with the government of Mexico for its
covert attempt to dismantle a new law in Arizona designed to combat
illegal immigration and, specifically, human smuggling. As the elected
prosecuting attorney for Maricopa County, the third most populous
county in the United States, I am charged with prosecuting those who
violate Arizona's new anti-smuggling law or so-called coyote law,
A.R.S. § 13-2319. I write because the Mexican government, through
allied legal counsel, is seeking to nullify this new law by organizing
and possibly underwriting the legal defense efforts of criminal
defendants currently under indictment for violation of this statute.

Last year, in response to the flood of illegal immigration Arizona
suffers from Mexico, the Arizona legislature passed a law to ban human
smuggling. An overwhelming, bipartisan majority of legislators in both
houses voted for this measure. Governor Janet Napolitano signed it into
law. Our office has commenced prosecutions under the law against both
smugglers, or coyotes, and illegal immigrants who provably conspire
with coyotes in violation of state law.

On March 9, 2006, I received a letter from Carlos Flores-Vizcarra,
Consul General of Mexico in Phoenix, questioning these prosecutions. He
also requested that I present certain evidence before the Maricopa
County grand jury. In a letter dated March 24, 2006, I responded to Mr.
Flores-Vizcarra (copies of correspondence enclosed). I noted that his
attempt to "instruct this office on how to present evidence before the
grand jury is presumptuous and highly troubling," coming as it did from
"a foreign government that actively encourages illegal immigration to
the United States." Also, I observed that for years, "the Mexican
government has practiced a form of latter-day mercantilism towards the
United States." Under this de facto policy, the Mexican government
encourages those who are unhappy with political, economic and social
conditions in Mexico to flee to America to seek unlawful employment
here, and to send back to Mexico an estimated $16 billion in annual
remittances.

On May 4, 2006, in their coverage of my office's prosecutions of
smuggling cases, the Arizona Republic and other media sources reported
that attorneys at the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law,
based in Los Angeles, California, had been "brought into the case by
the Mexican Consul General's Office in Phoenix." (Copies of news
stories enclosed.) The Arizona Republic article quoted Peter Schey of
the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law as preparing to
mount legal challenges to prosecutions made under the coyote statute.

On May 5, 2006, Mr. Schey and his office filed motions to dismiss
the charges brought against illegal immigrants indicted for being
co-conspirators. One motion claims that Arizona's coyote statute
"amounts to an attempt to regulate immigration, conflicts with federal
immigration law, and injects the State into a field fully occupied by
federal law." Accordingly, the motion argues that the courts should
invalidate the coyote statute (Copy of motion enclosed.)

While Mr. Schey and his office purport to represent only one illegal
immigrant, they have indicated they are seeking to organize the legal
defense of all illegal immigrant defendants currently under indictment.
The legal argument Mr. Schey has offered-again, at the behest of the
Mexican government-challenges the right of the state of Arizona to pass
laws to combat illegal immigration in any manner.

By seeking to invalidate Arizona's coyote law, Mexican officials are
pursuing a consistent policy. One year ago, on May 3, 2005, Consul
General Flores-Vizcarra and Mr. Schey jointly visited the Maricopa
County Attorney's Office on a different matter. Last year, Patrick
Haab, a sergeant in the U.S. Army, was initially arrested after
detaining several illegal immigrants and a coyote at a highway rest
stop until law enforcement authorities arrived. After reviewing the
case, I concluded that Sergeant Haab could not be prosecuted for
detaining these individuals because he had performed a lawful citizen's
arrest.

It is noteworthy that Messrs. Flores-Vizcarra and Schey worked
jointly to lobby this office to reinstate prosecution of Sgt. Haab, an
individual who had committed no crime under Arizona law. The only
discernible common thread that runs between this prior meeting and the
current joint efforts of the Mexican consulate and the Center for Human
Rights and Constitutional Law is their coordinated attempt to
facilitate illegal immigration into Arizona.

I have taken the unusual step of writing to you and asking for your
assistance because of the important stakes involved in this dispute,
and the circumstances of this challenge to Arizona's laws. Under our
constitutional system of government, the people of Arizona have the
right to uphold public order and to protect themselves, through the
state's criminal justice system, against the Mexican government's
systematic, unlawful export of humanity into the state and nation. As
it now stands, a foreign government is directly challenging the rights
of the people of Arizona as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
Admittedly, given the Mexican government's frequent complaints that the
United States interferes in the sovereignty of Mexican affairs (often
simply because of American attempts to curb illegal immigration from
that country), the Mexican government's efforts to nullify duly enacted
state laws in this nation are highly ironic. Yet that is the current
state of affairs.

I respectfully request your assistance, and that of the U.S. State
Department, in protesting this extraordinary attempt by a foreign
government to deprive Arizona of its ability to defend itself against
the tide of illegal immigration fomented by that same foreign
government.

Sincerely,

Andrew P. Thomas
Maricopa County Attorney

cc: The Honorable Jon Kyl, U.S. Senate
The Honorable John McCain, U.S. Senate
The Honorable Rick Renzi, U.S. House of Representatives
The Honorable Trent Franks, U.S. House of Representatives
The Honorable John Shadegg, U.S. House of Representatives
The Honorable Ed Pastor, U.S. House of Representatives
The Honorable J.D. Hayworth, U.S. House of Representatives
The Honorable Jeff Flake, U.S. House of Representatives
The Honorable Raul M. Grijalva, U.S. House of Representatives
The Honorable Jim Kolbe, U.S. House of Representatives

Politics: General, Immigration, The Courts, Legal, Criminal Justice, Death Penalty

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