The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office is appealing an immigration law decision from a federal judge.
The county attorney is appealing a ruling last month from Federal District Judge Robert Broomfield that says immigrants cannot be charged with conspiracy for arranging to be smuggled into the United States.
In a brief notice, County Attorney Bill Montgomery says he’s challenging the decision in the San Francisco-based Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
In a separate filing, Montgomery’s office is asking Broomfield for a clarification.
The county attorney wants to know whether the ruling bars any prosecutions under the 2005 law that made it a state felony to knowingly transport immigrants in the country for financial gain.
Former County Attorney Andrew Thomas interpreted that statute to mean not only could those smuggling people into the country be charged, but the migrants who paid them could also be prosecuted. Broomfield ruled that illegal last month.