Sheriff's posse saturating Phoenix neighborhood

As many as 100 posse and reserve officers from the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office plan to saturate an area of central Phoenix that has become a flash point for the illegal immigration debate, Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Friday.

The sheriff’s office announced the operation this morning, and the sheriff plans to speak at a news conference this afternoon.

The operation will last multiple days, but Arpaio said he did not know exactly how many. “It could be two days, three days,” Arpaio said. “We could go secretive and come back without anybody knowing it.”

The sheriff’s office announced it will have members patrolling the area between 16th and 40th streets and Indian School and McDowell roads.

The operation comes at the request of a Washington-based conservative group that says it represents Phoenix businesses.

In a news release Tuesday from the sheriff’s office, the group, Judicial Watch, was quoted as saying, “The policies and practices of the Phoenix Police Department are damaging our businesses, driving down home values and destroying our community.”

The operation is yet another move in the ongoing battle surrounding Pruitt’s furniture store on Thomas Road near 35th Street. Months back, the store hired off-duty sheriff’s deputies to deter day laborers who gathered in the area.

The move prompted numerous protests by immigrant rights activists, which were countered by anti-illegal-immigration activists.

“My answer to all those critics, activists, is that we're going to do what we have to do to protect those businesses in that area,” Arpaio said.

Phoenix police were notified in advance of the sheriff’s operation, said department spokesman Sgt. Joel Tranter.

That differs from multiple operations conducted by the sheriff’s office within Mesa city limits, when deputies were sent on illegal immigration crackdowns without notifying the city police department.