PHOENIX — Blanca Oliveros, an immigrant from Guatemala, was on her way to work at 5:55 a.m. on January 30, 2008 when she was stopped by the highway patrol.

Though she carried an expired driver's license and an expired letter referencing a quest to obtain permanent residency, the officers could only charge her with a broken taillight.

Since that morning, Oliveros has been in the Florence jail unable to see her six children, all who were born in the United States and who range in age from 16 to 2-years-old, or her husband who is a permanent resident and has been in the United States for over 20 years because of something that on the one hand is keeping her from being deported but also from being released from jail.

Blanca Oliveros children show the medals and trophies they've won for being scholar athletes in school.
(Source: Prensa Hispana)

Oliveros lawyer, Tony Guajardo, was able to get the judge to levy a $4,000 bail against Oliveros which has kept her from being deported. However, her family does not have the resources to pay for her bail and so a local group "Amigos al Rescate" (Friends to the Rescue) has started a collection to help the family raise the money for her release.

The jailing of Oliveros is taking a toll on the family to the point that the husband admitted to having to pull out his 16-year-old daughter from school so she can stay home to take care of the 2-year-old.

Source: Prensa Hispana

PHOENIX — After sixteen months of improving relations between Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE with the state of Arizona, the state agency's leader, Alonzo Peña, has been transferred to the U.S. Embassy in Mexico.

Former Arizona ICE chief, Alonzo Peña, begins his new duties at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico in April.
(Source: Phoenix New Times)

Achieving important results with his work to combat human trafficking, Peña is starting a new chapter in his professional career working with internal security at the diplomatic headquarters in Mexico City's Districto Federal. He assumes his new duties on April 7.

Peña's replacement in Arizona, Matthew Allen, said that his department will now be focusing on assisting local and state police agencies on immigration calls while targeting employers who hire undocumented workers.

"We can't arrest our way out of this problem," Allen said. "No one in the U.S. government -- whether that's (the Department of Homeland Security) or (Department of Justice) -- has the capacity to arrest, go out and physically arrest, every alien who is here illegally.

"That's why it's important to focus on the root cause of much of America's illegal immigration -- jobs offered to immigrants."

Allen also plans to have his agents get to know the local realtors in an effort to combat drop houses where immigrant smugglers hide their clients and collect payments before transporting them to their final destinations. Phoenix is estimated to have 1,000 drop houses.

PHOENIX — On March 19, the Appropriations Committee voted to make it illegal for landlords to rent to those who can't prove their legal status. The bill requires that prospective renters produce one of twelve documents.

Those who do rent to undocumented immigrants will be subjected to a penalty of up to $250 for each day of the violation.

According to published reports, some property management companies are already taking their own measures to verify legal status by recording their drivers licenses, doing a credit check and conducting a mini background check.

However, until the bill is passed no property management company is required to follow the bill's guidelines.