Federal immigration program mainly nets low-level criminals, analysis says
"Of the hundreds of counties in the U.S. participating in a rapidly expanding federal program designed to catch and deport dangerous criminal immigrants, Maricopa County leads the nation in both the number of immigrants arrested and the number deported, federal records show.
But the majority of the immigrants, 66 percent, caught in the county and deported through the Secure Communities program are either low-level criminals or have no criminal record at all, according to an Arizona Republic analysis of the 2-year-old program."
Daniel González in The Arizona Republic on Mar. 9, 2011.