Burning Atlanta

Maricopa County sheriff's deputies will blanket a Mesa area again today, continuing a controversial crime suppression sweep that drew about 200 protestors in its first day Thursday.

At last count, 28 arrests were made Thursday, including 13 of undocumented immigrants.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio called the operation a success, despite criticism from Mesa Police Chief George Gascon, who said he had to allocate extra resources to protect residents and business owners in Mesa because the sheriff's operation drew dozens of protesters. Gascon said he had 130 officers on duty Thursday afternoon.

``We know how to take care of business," Arpaio said. ``I'm going in there doing my job. If he (Gascon) thinks he's going to destroy me by getting all the people against me because he had to spend taxpayer money to control a few people, I got news for him. We don't need him."

Hispanic leader Roberto Reveles spoke for a crowd of about 200 protestors, who claimed Arpaio's sweep constitutes racial profiling of Hispanics in an effort to catch illegal immigrants.

``The crime rates in Mesa have actually declined, and here he is on a crime suppression ego trip, paid obviously by the taxpayers, clearly a political move on his part, part of his campaign for re-election," Reveles said.

Arpaio's challenger in the November election, Dan Saban, showed up at the scene and denounced the operation.

``The immigration issue's a big issue for everyone," Saban said. ``There's reasonable ways to approach this issue, like Phoenix, the Department of Public Safety and Mesa do. They approach the violent aspect of illegal immigration. They're going after the people who are smuggling, committing crimes and drugs. They're very successful in that, but you don't see them putting on a big show."