PHOENIX (By Michael Kiefer, Arizona Republic) August 21, 2005 - The Arizona statue on human smuggling went into effect Aug. 12, giving the state's prosecutors a tool to go after "coyotes," or smugglers, who traffic in undocumented immigrants.

But not all state and local law enforcement agencies are in a hurry to take over a task that until now has fallen entirely in the jurisdiction of the federal government.

Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas has created a special unit to prosecute coyotes under the new law. In July, his office sent out letters to law enforcement agencies, alerting them to the unit.

"It's going to be up to law enforcement to investigate and pass on for prosecution," Thomas said, adding that he isn't sure whether the cases will come in "a flood or a trickle."

But other than a special task force set up by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, state and Valley police departments are not planning to open the valve anytime soon, citing scant resources and the logistics of tiptoeing around federal laws regarding undocumented immigrants.

"It's business as usual," a Phoenix police spokesman said.

And in fact, on Monday, three days after the new law went into effect, Phoenix police raided a drophouse where they apprehended 25 undocumented immigrants, two of whom are suspected smugglers, and turned them over to federal immigration authorities instead of the county.

Thomas' new unit consists of one prosecutor, two investigators, a victims rights specialist and a paralegal.

Thomas is not content with just prosecuting the coyotes, however. He thinks the state's conspiracy statutes will allow him to prosecute the undocumented immigrants as well. That's an opinion that his staff and law enforcement officers agree could be challenged in court.

The new law says simply, "It is unlawful for a person to intentionally engage in the smuggling of human beings for profit or commercial purpose."

"It makes it a crime to transport people who are coming into the country illegally for economic reasons," Thomas said. "I think it was a response to the federal government not securing the borders and, prior to today, under Arizona law, we did not have a state statute to cover that."

Until now, the state was able to prosecute only coyotes in instances where the immigrants were held against their will. Then they could be charged with kidnapping or aggravated assault under state statutes.

Thomas thinks that illegal immigration is linked to other crime.

"The reason for forming the unit is we do expect with the coyote law going into effect, by targeting coyotes, we'll be able to have a multiplier effect on the crime rate," he said.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio assigned six full-time investigators to his new human smuggling squad, but he has questions about enforcing the law.

"I want the authority to lock up smugglers, but I am not going to lock up illegals hanging around street corners," he said. "I'm not going to waste my resources going after a guy in a truck when he picks up five illegals to go trim palm trees."

Arpaio also is worried about the overlap of state and federal laws.

For starters, Arpaio said, to prosecute a crime, there must be testimony from witnesses, in these cases, people who are in the country illegally, a crime that falls under federal jurisdiction.

Phoenix police Cmdr. Kim Humphrey agreed.

"Even if we decide we're going to prosecute them under the state law, we're going to have to call the feds and they're going to have to get involved in the case," he said. "So honestly, the best thing is, if it's prosecutable under federal law, it's just as well that they handle it, and it goes through their system."

A spokesman for the Mesa Police Department said his agency will continue turning coyote cases over to federal authorities. And spokesmen for the state Department of Public Safety and the Arizona Attorney General's Office said they do not have the resources to investigate and prosecute the cases.

If Thomas also charges the smuggled humans with conspiring to smuggle themselves into the state, they would then have to be jailed, filling the jails and further slowing their deportation.

"What every other police agency in the United States recognizes as the victim is now a co-conspirator," said Latino community leader Alfredo Gutierrez, one of Thomas' harshest critics.

Rep. Jonathan Paton, R-Tucson, sponsored the legislation.

"The law is pretty clear," he said. "It goes after the smugglers themselves, and not after illegal immigrants."