PHOENIX -- A hotline launched by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office that encourages residents to report information about undocumented immigrants has some critics angry it could spur racial profiling.

The hotline, believed to be the first of its kind in the nation, comes in the wake of several local and state initiatives designed to tackle issues left by the federal government's failure to pass immigration reform.

One of them is a new state law that imposes stiff penalties on businesses that intentionally hire undocumented workers.

Another is an ordinance passed July 2 by the Mesa City Council that empowers its police force to slap drivers with a parking ticket for stopping to pick up day laborers at two intersections that are well-known gathering spots.

The hotline is meant to gather tips from the public about criminal activity, like human smuggling.

Within the first 18 hours of its operation, the hotline netted about 100 calls, ranging from reports of suspected drop houses to businesses hiring undocumented workers, sheriff's deputies said.

Sheriff Blasts Critics

Critics, like Elias Bermudez of Immigrants Without Borders, said Sheriff Joe Arpaio's tool will likely compromise civil rights.

"He is causing hardship and pain to people whose only crime they've committed is coming here undocumented to feed their families, and that's sad," Bermudez said.

Arpaio downplayed racial profiling at two news briefings called to address the new program and stressed his deputies would only approach those targeted during normal investigations.

"We're not going to go out on a street corner and round up people because they look like they're from a foreign country," he said.

Arpaio also addressed another fear voiced by hotline opponents.

"Critics think people are going to report their neighbors," Arpaio said. "We didn't get anyone reporting their neighbors out of the 100 calls that initially came in," he said.

Deputies said they don't know yet how many calls the hotline will receive or what protocol they'll use to decide which tip to investigate.

64 ICE Agents To Be Deputized Monday

The hotline is part of a new crackdown the sheriff's office has launched to combat human smuggling of undocumented immigrants.

On Monday, Arpaio will deputize 64 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents so they can act as both federal and local law enforcement agents.

"We are quickly becoming a full-fledged anti-illegal immigration agency," Arpaio said.

In another move, Arpaio said about 160 armed sheriff's deputies, reserves and volunteer posse, cross-trained to enforce immigration law, will begin saturating Valley cities as well as roadways and highways commonly used as transportation corridors for human trafficking.

Arpaio said deputies will be targeting vehicles commonly used to move human cargo to destinations inside and outside the county. If a vehicle is stopped for probable cause, deputies can question occupants about their immigration status and arrest and jail them if they're undocumented, Arpaio said.

The sheriff's office started arresting undocumented immigrants in the spring of 2006.