Police in Arizona to Investigate Immigration Checkpoint

Chief says it was only meant to be a safety check for commercial trucks

A Peoria Police Department inquiry of a January traffic checkpoint that virtually shut down Grand Avenue and angered many in the immigrant community was turned over to the internal-affairs department for further investigation, a police official said.

Police, along with federal immigration agents and the Arizona Department of Transportation, among other agencies, stopped private motorists traveling on Grand Avenue on Jan. 29 and asked them for their driver's licenses and registrations. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained 11 people, and Peoria police impounded 17 vehicles during the operation, which Police Chief Roy Minter said was only intended to be a commercial-truck safety inspection.

The incident sparked anger from members of the immigrant-rights community, who said it was a de facto immigration checkpoint.