Paul Babeu for Sheriff Committee

Florence, Ariz.- Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu has announced his opposition to the proposed immigration reform offered by the so called “Gang of Eight”. Officially titled the “Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013” or the “Schumer-McCain Immigration Bill.”

Sheriff Paul Babeu said, “We must se…cure the border first, prior to any discussion of green cards and a path to citizenship offered to nearly 20 million illegals and their families. This plan gives everything to President Obama upfront, while border security is promised once again on the backend. We are about to repeat history, when in 1986 President Reagan gave amnesty to 2 million illegals. Now, the stakes are far higher, yet it seems that we haven’t learned our lesson. The failure to secure the border after the Reagan amnesty got us where we are today with 11 to 20 million illegals in our Country…..this plan will repeat history.”

Sheriff Babeu added, “Secretary Janet Napolitano almost daily proclaims that our US/Mexican border is already secure in an effort to pave the way to amnesty. One year ago, the Tucson sector alone had 122,000 illegals apprehended and now the Chief of the U.S. Border Patrol recently testified that this number is up  more than 13%. Additionally, our Sheriff’s Office recently led a multi-agency investigation which busted the largest drug smuggling operation in the history of Arizona, valued between $2-$3 Billion, arresting 76 individuals of the Sinaloa Mexican Drug Cartel and seized 108 of their firearms. In law enforcement, we call these clues; the border is NOT more secure than ever.”

Sheriff Babeu continued, “This immigration reform plan gives Secretary Napolitano six months to come up with a border security plan. What has she been doing for the past four years? She deceptively proclaims border security in order to convince the American people that the border is secure and yet she tells law enforcement officials that the border can’t be secured. In Nogales, Arizona on July 7th, 2011 Secretary Napolitano personally told me and several law enforcement officials that ‘we are never going to seal the border, and since the beginning of time, we’ve always had contraband and smuggling going through it.’ I along with most Americans wonder how the person in charge of securing the border can say we can’t do it. The border can and must be secured. It has already happened in the Yuma Sector where border crossings have been reduced by 97%.”

Sheriff Babeu concluded, “Most agree that we need to reform our immigration system, yet logic and history should demand that our border must be secured first. I applaud this effort to add significant resources to build fencing, add needed staff and improve security. This has to be done first. What is the justification to not secure the border first and then start on reform? I do not trust that the border will be secured under this plan, since the very people in charge already believe we have security. We are asked to trust the very people who recently released 2,228 criminal illegals to our streets and continue to refuse to provide me their names, criminal history, their individual threat assessment, and location of their supervised release. We are asked to trust the very people who covered up Benghazi and gave over 2,000 high powered weapons (AG Holder’s Fast & Furious) to the Mexican Drug Cartel that we are fighting. The only failsafe of this plan is if the border is not 90% secure, the plan calls to establish a commission years later to study what went wrong. Border security is a grave national security concern and we should address this as such now. Secure the border first, and then we can talk.”

NEWSFLASH just released from the Sheriff’s Office:
On February 26th, 2013 Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu sent out the attached News Release after “Whistle Blowers” from ICE and U.S. Border Patrol reported to him the release over 500 criminal illegal detainees from detention facilities in Pinal County. ICE attempted to release all of the criminal illegals under secrecy. ICE later admitted they had released 2,000 illegals from detention facilities throughout the United States and plan to release another 3,000 more this month.

Sheriff Babeu attempted to get information about the illegals who were released since “Whistle Blowers” have informed him many of them have criminal records here in the United States. ICE officials have refused to provide our office with information related to their names, criminal records, or security threat level.

On February 28th, 2013 Sheriff Babeu sent the attached letter to Secretary Napolitano formally asking for the same information. We have heard through ICE supervisors, she will not be providing our office the information requested.

Sheriff Babeu continues to receive information through “Whistle Blowers” who have reported that some of the criminal illegals released from ICE custody in Pinal County have criminal records including charges of Manslaughter, Child Molestation, Aggravated Assault, Weapon Offenses, Drug Offenses including Distribution of Dangerous and Narcotic Drugs, Forgery and DUI. “Whistle Blowers” were ready to come forward through the media and report what they were ordered to do yet now ICE officials have had supervisors attend briefings and send emails to employees threatening any employee who releases information about the released detainees to a third party that they will receive disciplinary action including termination.

On March 4th, 2013 Sheriff Babeu sent the attached letter to Congressman Issa (Chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee) requesting a congressional inquiry and oversight hearings to investigate the recent mass release of more than 2,000 criminal illegals from ICE custody.

On March 5th, 2013 Congressman Issa announced that he will be launching a formal investigation into this matter.

Our staff like many others in law enforcement, the media and citizens have been searching for answers related to why the decision was made to release hundreds of criminal illegal immigrants in Pinal County.  We have not been able to obtain answers, here is a letter I sent to Secretary Napolitano today in an attempt to get answers.

Here is a video from an interview with Wolf Blitzer from CNN.

Pinal County, Ariz – Sheriff Paul Babeu blasted the Washington gridlock regarding the “Sequester Budget Battle” and says it is already harming public safety in Arizona by ICE’s mass release of hundreds of illegals and plans for the release of nearly 10,000 more criminal illegals from prison.

Many of these ICE detainees are held at private facilities, which are contracted to house criminal illegals. ICE reportedly plans to reduce their available beds to 25,700 from their current 34,000. Sheriff Babeu said, “Clearly, serious criminals are being released to the streets of our local communities by this mass budget pardon. These are illegals that even President Obama wants to deport. This is insane that public safety is sacrificed when it should be the budget priority that’s safeguarded.”

ICE agents were paid overtime Saturday and Sunday to release over 500 detainees in Pinal County alone. These criminal illegals were scheduled for deportation, yet now they receive a pardon and once again become the problem of local law enforcement and a burden to the state of Arizona. The President predicts a doomsday scenario and his plans are already being implemented. Sheriff Babeu concluded, “President Obama would never release 500 criminal illegals to the streets of his home town, yet he has no problem with releasing them in Arizona. The safety of the public is threatened and the rule of law discarded as a political tactic in this Sequester Battle.”

On Friday, January 18th, 2013, the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office began receiving numerous reports of fraudulent credit and debit card use/transactions. As of this morning, our office has received over 400 reported cases.

It has been determined during the investigation that the victims had all used their credit or debit cards at either Bashas, AJ’s Fine Foods and or Food City locations to make purchases. The fraudulent charges to victims accounts are occurring in Arizona, Texas, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, North Carolina, Italy, France, Canada and Mexico.

The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office has been working with Federal, State, and City law enforcement agencies on this case as it has become International. The FBI has taken the lead in the investigation.

The Bashas’ Family of Stores has cooperated with investigators. The store became the victim of a cyber attack which began in June or July of 2012 and was done by suspects who were able to gain access to parts of their security system used to capture payment information from customers. The highly-sophisticated piece of malware software has been identified and contained. Bashas will be posting information related to this security breach at all of their stores to notify customers.

Sheriff Paul Babeu stated, “All Pinal County citizens who have reported the frauds have had their bank accounts reimbursed. Numerous investigators from various law enforcement agencies are working around the clock to find those responsible and put them behind bars. We need your help to identify the three individuals in the photo provided as they are considered investigative leads. We strongly encourage everyone to closely monitor their debit and credit card accounts and report anything suspicious.”

To report fraudulent activity on your credit and debit accounts or to identify the three individuals, please call the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office non-emergency

On January 16th, 2013 I sent this letter to President Obama both through the mail and also to one of his administrative staff via email. Not surprisingly, I have not recived a response from President Obama nor anybody from his administration.

I ask you to stand with me against any executive order which would deny any citizen their rights gauranteed by the Constitution of the United States of America.

Pinal County, Ariz –Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu proposes a change in the “safe school zone” laws to allow for school administrators and designated teachers to be armed to initially defend against any violent attack on their school. Sheriff Babeu also supports assigning a deputy or police officer in every school as proposed by the NRA.

Sheriff Babeu said, “Much the same way that commercial airline pilots have been trained and armed to defend their aircraft, school administrators and designated teachers would be trained by local law enforcement and armed to protect themselves, other staff and their students. Administrators and teachers are highly educated, they know their schools and love the children. Past efforts to protect innocent children and our schools have resulted in making them more vulnerable and more alluring as targets for mass killings. Restrictive gun laws, or even trying to take guns away from millions of law abiding citizens is unconstitutional and will NOT stop this violence. The immediate reality for every law enforcement leader is how do we best protect our schools, which are not fully protected and are not as safe as they should be in order to be called “safe school zones?”

Sheriff Babeu continued, “The NRA is correct, we need a Cop in every school. We also need to train and arm school administrators and designated teachers to protect themselves and our school children. Even with an officer on campus, some of these schools are quite large. The officer can’t be everywhere on campus and having trained and armed administrators and designated teachers could help limit and contain the active shooter. The Deputy or Police Officer should not simply provide armed security, yet should be a School Resource Officer (SRO). SRO’s are carefully selected officers who are trained to teach classes, mentor students, building positive relationships with students and staff and are one of the best defenses against an active shooter in a school.”

In response to calls for new gun laws, Sheriff Babeu said, “We have a people problem, not a gun problem. The reality is there will be little if any change in gun laws, which is not the solution anyway. We have over 20,000 laws and regulations on firearms, yet none of them prevented these mass killings. Criminals, mentally ill mass killers and terrorists do not follow current law and they certainly will not follow any future laws.” Sadly, there is a long history of school shootings in our nation and the “safe school zone act” of 1990 and 1995 have provided mass killers an even more alluring target of unarmed children, teachers and staff. http://www.k12academics.com/school-shootings/history-school-shootings-united-states

Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990 defines a school zone as the area “in, or on the grounds of… or within a distance of 1,000 feet from the grounds of a public, parochial or private [elementary or secondary] school.”

These mass killers have not shown any inclination to go where defenders with guns may be present. They target safe school zones, movie theaters, college campuses, malls and even military bases. Where ever there are areas where guns are not allowed, the laws abiding good citizens are unarmed and in fact, become ecomemagnets and even sitting targets for any evil mass killers. Even the victims at Ft. Hood were trained with firearms, yet were unarmed during the duty day. That means that they did NOT have any guns with them and the only soldiers that carried that day were the police and the Islamic terrorist, just like any other gun-free zone.

In response to the 9-11 attacks, the TSA was created, the Federal Air Marshals program expanded and deployed on most international and many domestic flights and pilots were also trained and armed to defend their aircraft and passengers. Our school children and staff must also be protected by amending the “Gun-Free Safe School Zones” to allow for armed administrators/designated teachers and to deploy an SRO in every school.

You’re personally invited to our official swearing in ceremony next Saturday, December 29th at 2pm at the Anthem Ballroom in Florence. Thank you for your strong support! Sheriff Paul

On Wednesday, December 12^th, 2012 at approximately 10 a.m. the “West Desert Task Force” was working once again in Pinal County to combat drug and human smuggling.  Pinal County has long been one of the main drug and human smuggling corridors used in Arizona by the cartels of Mexico. 

Yesterday the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office Aviation Unit was working with the task force.  The task force was able to locate a 2000 Chevy Suburban covered with a tarp, hidden with brush, south of Interstate-8 near Stanfield Road.  Inside of the vehicle, the task force discovered it contained 1,550 pounds of marijuana with a street value of $1,165,500. 

No suspects were located near the vehicle.  The vehicle and marijuana were seized. 

The West Desert Task Force is a joint initiative between U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations and the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office to combat narcotics trafficking in the West Desert region of Arizona. The task force is supported by the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) and Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) and works in association with the Alliance to Combat Transnational Threats (ACTT) and its participating agencies.

In the State of Arizona, search and rescue (SAR) activities fall within the responsibility of the various County Sheriff’s offices.  In October 2009, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu initiated a reorganization of the county’s SAR program.  Prior to this date, Pinal County operated with two individual SAR teams.  PCSO modeled their new SAR structure from those already used by several other Arizona counties.  The unified Pinal County Sheriff’s Office, Search and Rescue Posse began operation on December 1st, 2009. 

During 2010, the PCSO SAR team and Posse responded to 46 calls for missing and or injured hikers, during 2011 -  they responded to 137 calls,  and during 2012 so far there have been 130 calls.

The Pinal County Sheriff’s has four full time sworn members, several part-time members and the SAR Posse has over 50 members and continues to grow.  The SAR Posse team members engage in regular medical and technical rescue training to serve the residents of Pinal County.  As a result, the team has a roster that includes over 50 members certified or working toward their certifications as National Association of Search and Rescue SAR Technical II Rescue Technicians, 23 certified as Rescue Ropes III Technicians, 24 Wilderness First Responders, 10 Emergency Medical Technicians, 6 K’9s certified in Area Search and Cadaver Search.

Search and Rescue missions in Pinal County received a big boost in January of 2012 when our office launched our Aviation Unit.  Since that time, our helicopter has assisted in countless search and rescue missions, vehicles pursuits, SWAT operations and more.

Below are two recent cases which PCSO Search and Rescue and Posse responded to assist with lost or injured hikers.

On December 8th, 2012 PCSO SAR and Posse responded to Peralta Trailhead in the Superstition Mountains for an overdue female hiker who hadn’t been seen in 27 hours.  She was located by our helicopter in the remote area by Weavers Needle.  The pilot was able to land near the victim and SAR posse medics were able to assist her.  The victim was transported by the helicopter to a parking lot near the Peralta Trailhead where she was treated and reunited with family members.

On Monday, December 10, 2012 Don Reibich (age 74) and members of the Canyon Vista Hiking Club meet with PCSO SAR and Posse who assisted Don after he had fallen during a hike from ten to fifteen feet while hiking at Freemont Saddle in the Superstition Mountains. Don was not able to move by himself or with the assistance of his fellow hikers.  PCSO SAR and Posse responded and Don was transported to a local hospital where it was determined he had a cracked rib and punctured lung. 

Curt Ehresmann (Canyon Vista’s Hiking Club) stated, “We are very thankful for your staff’s assistance with our emergency, their professionalism and knowledge of what needed to be done and how quickly they accomplished all the necessary procedures to get Don to a medical facility to take care of his injuries.”