Napolitano, Arpaio complain about ICE official not doing job

This is slightly surprising:

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio have written U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff strongly complaining about a top federal immigration official in Phoenix.

Napolitano and Arpaio do not directly name the special agent at the Immigration & Customs Enforcement Agency in Phoenix. But state government and Sheriff's office sources say the subject of the criticism is Special Agent in Charge Roberto Medina. The governor and sheriff are upset with lack of cooperation from Medina when it comes to sharing intelligence and investigation information and his refusal to pick up and deport illegal immigrants detained under the state's human smuggling laws, the sources say.

Napolitano and Arpaio further said they welcome expected personnel changes at ICE's Phoenix office, which apparently have included Medina's exit, which was confirmed late Tuesday. They also asked the Bush administration to improve communications with state and local officials. The Phoenix ICE office said Medina is being moved to the agency's office in El Paso, Texas...

In interesting and almost certainly unrelated older news, AFAIK it's never been made clear exactly why the interim director of the Phoenix ICE office shot himself while driving to Tucson to appear at a press conference with, among others, Asa Hutchinson.

Immigration · Wed, 08/16/2006 - 11:24 · · Importance: 1