Mesa mayor, Arpaio discuss immigration sweeps

A war of words over last week's nighttime raid of Mesa's city hall and library ended Friday when the city's mayor and the county sheriff met behind closed doors. Mayor Scott Smith emerged from the 90-minute meeting with Sheriff Joe Arpaio grim-faced but upbeat about the progress the two had made.

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Smith spoke to reporters outside the Wells Fargo building in downtown Phoenix where Arpaio rents office space. A small group of protesters chanted anti-Arpaio slogans and carried banners disparaging the sheriff.

Neither politician was specific about the discussion, which also included Mesa City Manager Chris Brady. They did say they have opened a line of communication.

"We had a lively exchange of ideas," Smith said.

Arpaio said the discussion about communication was in general terms.

"We didn't say how we were going to do it," Arpaio said.

Tensions between city brass and Arpaio escalated after a horde of sheriff's deputies went to the main library at 64 E. First St. at 2 a.m. Oct. 16 and arrested three janitors who worked for a company under contract with the city on allegations they used fake identifications to obtain city credentials.

The investigation netted 16 arrests - most of them occurring at the Phoenix offices of Management Cleaning Controls and the homes of suspects.

Ten people were charged, mostly with having fake Social Security cards, while the others were turned over to federal agents for deportation when it was determined there wasn't enough evidence to charge them with state crimes.

Arpaio said last week that a city employee tipped off his agency regarding the allegations after the Mesa Police Department refused to act on the tipster's information, but this turned out to be not quite true, city documents have shown.

Smith fumed last week over deputies entering the city's jurisdiction to conduct the raid without the basic professional courtesy of letting them know.

That put Mesa police and the public in danger, Smith said.

"In order to maximize public safety we need our law enforcement agencies working together, not working against each other," Smith said Friday. "I think we made great strides today in opening that line of communication."

In the last week, Smith has gotten dozens of e-mails from residents unhappy with the way he handled the situation and favoring Arpaio.

The feud actually began last summer when Arpaio conducted sweeps in the city to arrest suspected illegal immigrants.

Mesa police asked for two days' notice before the sweeps so that officers could prepare for public safety because the sweeps in other Valley cities attracted large groups of people both protesting and supporting Arpaio.

At the time, Arpaio questioned chief George Gascón's commitment to fighting illegal immigration, and the two often exchanged words through the press.

The Mesa Police Department's approach is to turn over illegal immigrants to federal officials as they get arrested in connection with state crimes in city limits.

Smith and Arpaio agreed that the street-level police officers have a good working relationship with sheriff's deputies, especially in east Mesa, where deputies patrol county islands.

In the meantime, Mesa police have opened an internal investigation to see if a lieutenant didn't act on information that a crime had been committed.

According to court documents, a security technician, Chuck Wilson, brought it to Lt. Wade Pew's attention May 20 that a worker with Management Cleaning Controls tried to get city credentials with a fake Arizona identification card and that the company had been doing that for the last two years.

Pew and other city officials met with company representatives May 21 to warn them about following state and federal hiring laws and sent them a follow-up e-mail on the matter June 4, according to city records.

Court documents state that sheriff's detectives told Pew about the investigation June 3.

Wilson, who was fired last month on an unrelated matter, declined the Tribune's request for an interview.