Illegal immigration is one of the biggest issues facing our country today. To address this problem, on Nov. 3-5, 2005, the Maricopa County Attorney's Office is putting on the Southwest Conference on Border Security, Illegal Immigration, and Crime to discuss the impact of illegal immigration and to propose solutions.

The conference will feature many well-known experts and commentators representing a wide spectrum of viewpoints, including Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado, Stephen Moore and John Fund of the Wall Street Journal, John Leo of U.S. News & World Report, Sheriff Larry Deaver of Cochise County, Arizona, and many other notable speakers. Our office is the fifth largest district attorney’s office in the country, and prosecutes two out of three felonies committed in Arizona.

Arizona sees a disproportionate share of illegal immigration. Last year there were more arrests of illegal immigrants in Arizona than in all other border states combined. (Los Angeles Times, 3-13-2005). And according to the Pew Hispanic Center, Arizona has the highest per capital number of illegal immigrants.

The conference is open to all, and promises to be one of the largest, most comprehensive and interesting conferences in the nation on illegal immigration. For more information and to register, go to http://immigrationconference.com.

Lawyers and law enforcement can receive CLE and POST credit for attending. Please help us spread the word by passing this email on to anyone you think might be interested and/or post an announcement on your website (graphics can be found here).

Please contact Bill FitzGerald at 602-506-3170 or fitzgera@mcao.maricopa.gov to schedule an interview.

Thanks and we hope to see you there.