its hard to beleive but maricopa county has a new asshole who is worse then sheriff joe. its maricopa county attorney andrew thomas. Original Article Mar 3, 9:48 AM EST Smuggled immigrants arrested as smuggling accomplices PHOENIX (AP) -- Fifty-four immigrants discovered in a pair of furniture trucks were under arrest Friday for allegedly conspiring with their smugglers to sneak into the country illegally. The arrests mark the first time local authorities have applied a new state law on migrant smuggling to the smuggled immigrants themselves. The people were discovered Thursday about 50 miles west of Phoenix. Authorities said they obtained confessions from several in the group who said they paid smugglers - commonly called "coyotes" - up to $2,000 each to bring them across the border. All 54 were booked into a county jail. Frustrated by the federal government's perceived inaction in repairing America's immigration system, state lawmakers approved a smuggling law a year ago creating the state crime of human smuggling. In September, the county attorney for Arizona's most populous county took the law a step farther. He issued an opinion declaring that illegal immigrants can be prosecuted as co-conspirators if they pay a coyote for transport. Under Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas' interpretation, the immigrants arrested Thursday can be charged with a felony punishable by up to 2 years in prison. That concept has yet to be tested in court, but Thomas says he intends to charge the smugglers under the new law under his power as the county's chief prosecutor. Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose agency made the arrest Thursday, likened the relationship between a coyote and a person being smuggled to that of a drug dealer and user. "If the customer pays a dope peddler money, he's violated the law," Arpaio said. "(Here), they're paying for transport." Thomas, a Republican who campaigned on the promise of getting tough on illegal immigration, has also set up a special squad to focus on enforcing the new state smuggling law. "The bottom line is Arizona has a tremendous problem with illegal immigration," Thomas said. "Look, if you're going to enter Maricopa County and try to commit a felony, you're going to jail and you're going to be prosecuted." But some question Thomas' logic. "I can't imagine somebody won't challenge that," said Margarita Silva, a criminal defense attorney and president of Los Abogados, a Hispanic law group. She said smuggled immigrants who become co-conspirators or co-defendants would have to incriminate themselves to testify against the coyotes, potentially weakening the case against the smugglers. Prosecutors in other Arizona counties have said they've had trouble bringing cases under the state's new migrant smuggling law because it's hard to hold on to the illegal immigrants who are the witnesses to the crime. --- On the Net: Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas: http://www.maricopacountyattorney.org/