By Martin Arvizu

I guess the economy is not affecting Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the rest of the Maricopa Country Sheriff’s Office the way it is affecting everyone else because they have the money to waste on rounding up people who are cleaning libraries and office buildings.

Not to mention that I can not believe that a law enforcement agency has nothing better to do with its time than bust janitors.

Yes, Yes, I know the law is the law, and I do understand. But I know there is more serious crime going on in Mesa than people using fake documentation to work.

Today’s Top Story, written by Michael Kiefer, JJ Hensley and Gary Nelson for the Arizona Republic, reports that 30 Maricopa County Sheriff’s deputies, and 30 posse members served search warrants at 2 a.m. at Mesa City Hall and at Mesa Public Library/ They were searching for illegal immigrants using phony documentation. I am sure there were also some books they in mind too, which they think are unsuitable, and would have liked to permanently take off the shelves.

2 a.m.? Is that not when all the drunks have just left the bars and are on the road? Has gang violence, drug trafficking, car thefts and other serious crimes suddenly slowed to the point that Arpaio feels he can divert the manpower of 60 men to busting janitors for illegally cleaning shit from toilets?

I do not know about you folks but whenever I go to a public restroom, open the stall door and see a disgusting mess all I can think is “Damn I’m glad I’m not the poor bastard who has to clean that mess up!” I then feel appreciative the next day when I return to find the stall nice and clean. Someone who does that hard a job should get a raise, not arrested.

To top it all off only three people were arrested at the site. Sixteen workers were later arrested on various immigration related charges.

Sheriff Joe and Co. are currently wasting valuable time and tax money looking for 15 other company employees.

Why do you think you have to have a raid at 2 a.m. to catch Mexicans? Because once they know you are looking for them, they go underground and it is no use.

Sheriff Joe denied that the raids were driven by a political agenda and told the Republic that there was something in the Mesa Police “culture” that “they do not want to enforce the Immigration laws.”

I do not think that the Mesa Police Department does not want to enforce immigration laws, Sheriff Joe. I think they want to make the safety of the city a priority. Unlike yourself, who wants to make arresting hard working people who pose no risk to their communities a priority.

I mean think about it, they are working at 2 a.m. cleaning! Drug dealers and violent criminals simply do not do that.

To further prove my point as to the county’s wasteful spending of time and money, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas insisted to the Republic that the cleaning company had been under investigation for months.

A cleaning company under investigation for months? And they arrested less than 20 people who are probably going to be deported. but return in time for Thanksgiving dinner.

I guess all the drug cartel operatives working in Maricopa County have been taken care of, and that must be the reason they have so much time to devote to taking out cleaning crews.

According to the Republic, an informant had already reported the alleged abuse to a Mesa Police lieutenant who allegedly said, “This isn’t the Mesa Police’s problem. It’s the cleaning company’s issue.”

The lieutenant is right. Arizona is supposedly the main drop-off point for drugs coming into the country from Mexico and I am sure that the Phoenix Metro area gets the brunt of it. We are still one of the hot spots in the country for stolen vehicles, and gangs are still a major problem in throughout the county.

Now, let me clear, if there are illegal immigrants involved in any of those activities I have no problem with Sheriff Joe going after them. I will admit that there are probably hundreds of dangerous illegal immigrants roaming the streets of Maricopa County with malicious intentions; they just are not the ones at a job scrubbing toilets at 2 a.m.