PHOENIX -- Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio takes credit for putting 37,000 illegal immigrants in jail but a closer look at the numbers reveals it's not his deputies who are making most of the arrests.
Arpaio held a press conference on Monday afternoon to announce he is in the process of
training his nearly 900 deputies to enforce federal and state immigration laws.
During that same press conference, he also took credit for putting tens of thousands of illegal immigrants behind bars.
“We've been very, very successful… approximately 37,000 illegal aliens that this office has been responsible for investigating, arresting, detaining," said Arpaio.
Nevertheless, the sheriff’s own internal reports, obtained by CBS 5 News, show those numbers don’t tell the full story.
The sheriff’s internal statistics show his human smuggling unit made 3,671 arrests as of early February. The first 12 crime sweeps netted nearly 700 arrests -- about half of those arrested were for immigration related violations.
More than 31,000 of the 37,000 arrests were made by other police agencies. The arrestees were brought to the jail to be processed by sheriff’s detention officers.
“I'd hope they gave us credit for what we do in the jail," said Arpaio.
Arpaio said while other agencies made the initial arrest, his detention officers were the ones to question the suspects and tack on additional immigration violations.
Arpaio said his office is leading the charge in enforcing state human smuggling law, and that has helped reduce crime across the Valley.
"If it wasn't for us, those 31,000 would be roaming the streets again," said Arpaio.
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