With the Mexican Drug War of recent years, the situation has deteriorated significantly in Arizona. When you hear politicians — even those in opposition — voice sympathy toward the new state immigration law, you have to keep incidents in mind like this one that happened yesterday:
PHOENIX – A veteran sheriff’s deputy was shot and wounded Friday after encountering a group of suspected illegal immigrants who apparently had been hauling bales of marijuana along a major smuggling corridor in the Arizona desert- a violent episode that comes amid a heated national debate over immigration…
Puroll was found in the desert after a frantic hourlong search, suffering from a gunshot wound, Pinal County sheriff’s Lt. Tamatha Villar said. The 15-year department veteran had been performing smuggling interdiction work before finding the bales of marijuana and encountering the five suspected illegal immigrants, two armed with rifles…
“Over the past 12 months we’ve seen an increase in the amount of drugs, and an increase in violence that has been going on in this particular corridor,” Villar told KPNX.
Paul Babeu, the sheriff of Pinal County, has been a vocal supporter of Arizona’s new immigration law precisely because of the violence against his officers.
Neighboring Pima County’s sheriff recently offered the opposite point of view, asserting that the new law is likely to cause more violence against law enforcement.
