A former FBI Special Agent was sentenced on Wednesday to two years probation and fined $18,000 for hiring illegal immigrants to work at a deli, Dallas U.S. Attorney James Jacks announced.

Ann Cox operated a Schlotzsky’s Deli in Rockwall, Tex., from at least August 1997 to December 2008. During that time, she hired and employed six illegal immigrants, with the knowledge that they were neither admitted for permanent residence in the United States nor authorized to be employed, according to Jacks.

Cox pleaded guilty in September to unlawfully employing immigrants.

Deputy Criminal Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Guess and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert H. Dunikoski III handled the prosecution.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert E. Casey Jr. said, “When FBI internal security procedures first detected the possibility that former Special Agent Cox may have committed this crime, I immediately referred this matter to our headquarters in Washington, D.C. Pursuant to established procedures within the Department of Justice, an investigation was then conducted by the Department of Justice, Office of Inspector General and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with the full cooperation of the FBI. While it is disappointing that an FBI Special Agent chose to break the law, it is important for citizens to understand that the FBI has an unwavering commitment to take appropriate action when transgressions are committed by its employees, the overwhelming majority of whom are above reproach in their professional and personal conduct.”

Federal prosecutors in Arizona bring more cases than their counterparts in the other 93 U.S. Attorney’s offices, many of them related to immigration, according to a report released this week by Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.

The Arizona U.S. Attorney’s Office initiated 20,818 prosecutions between October 2009 to May 2010 — a 26 percent increase over the same period a year earlier and double the amount over the same time in fiscal 2008, according to the report by TRAC, a public interest group which compiles criminal justice data.

The numbers mean that prosecutors in Arizona filed almost one fifth of all federal cases, even though Arizona has only about two percent of the country’s population. The TRAC report did not provide statistics about the performance of any other U.S. Attorney’s office.

The statistics have political implications because the vast majority of the prosecutions, 84 percent, are related to immigration. The report does specify what types of immigration cases are brought in the district, but routine deportations are thought likely to comprise many of them.

The state has been a battleground over immigration.  Republicans have slammed President Barack Obama and his  administration’s efforts to combat illegal immigration, saying federal law enforcement authorities have failed to halt the flood of illegal entry in the U.S.

(Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, Syracuse University)

Dennis Burke, who has led the Phoenix-based U.S. Attorney’s office since September, told the Verde Independent that there are more prosecutions because his office has hired more prosecutors.

The office had 151 Assistant U.S. Attorney in March 2010  — a 36 percent increase from September 2005. The number of federal prosecutors across the country only increased by 9 percent over the same period.

“[My predecessors] just didn’t have the resources,” Burke told the newspaper.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) signed into law earlier this year stringent legislation that would make it easier to prosecute and deport illegal immigrants. The U.S. Justice Department has won an order delaying implementation of the new law, citing constitutional and civil rights concerns. A federal judge in a preliminary injunction in July kept the most divisive parts of the legislation from taking effect.

A spokesman for the Arizona governor told the Verde Independent that the uptick of federal prosecutions in the state seems to suggest that border security is a bigger problem than it was in years past.

“These efforts to arrest and prosecute are good, but they are not enough,” Brewer spokesman Paul Senseman told the newspaper.

Joseph Russoniello (DOJ)

U.S. Attorney Joseph Russoniello’s tough immigration stance has hampered San Francisco from changing its sanctuary law. Now some hope Russoniello, a Bush-holdover as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California, will be replaced soon and that his successor might have a different take on the sanctuary law, SF Weekly reported Tuesday.

San Francisco city supervisor David Campos has proposed an amendment to the city’s sanctuary law that would prohibit undocumented youths accused of felonies from being reported to federal immigration authorities unless and until they are convicted. However, Mayor Gavin Newsom and Juvenile Probation chief William Siffermann say that without Russoniello on board, they cannot offer more protections to undocumented juvenile suspects.

Immigrant advocates might not have to wait much longer as President Barack Obama is “closer than ever” to nominating Russoniello’s replacement, according to the paper.

Melinda Haag (Orrick)

In February, the FBI began a background check on Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP partner Melinda Haag, signaling her likely nomination.

Russoniello’s immigration stance dates back to the 1980’s when he first became a U.S. Attorney during the Reagan administration. Soon after his appointment to the post, Russoniello launched a controversial investigation into whether non-citizens were being registered to vote. He also has said his office could prosecute church members for giving sanctuary to illegal immigrants, and in a 1989 letter to then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein, he wrote that the sanctuary law was “invalid,” “calculated to confuse” and “may well subject those who implement it to possible federal criminal prosecution.”

While Russoniello is known to take a hard-line on immigration issues, Haag’s position on enforcement is unknown. But some immigration advocates told SF Weekly that anyone other than Russoniello would be an improvement in their view.

“Joe Russoniello is, hands down, the biggest obstacle to even modest due process modifications for juvenile offenders,” one person at City Hall told SF Weekly. “You can’t take threats of federal criminal prosecution lightly, and that’s especially true of a U.S. Attorney who’s been as aggressive on immigration as Russoniello has.”

Dennis Burke, the new U.S. Attorney in Arizona, said the immigration system in the United States is “broken” and “does not reflect economic reality.”

In an interview for a cover story in Arizona Attorney magazine, Burke also said:  ”We’ve created a market for human smuggling that accompanies an already-existing drug-smuggling industry, which flourishes in Arizona. What we have here is a third-world economy next to the most prosperous economy in the world.”

Burke is a former top aide to Janet Napolitano, the former Arizona governor who is now the Homeland Security secretary. Burke is also chairman of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee border and immigration law enforcement subcommittee.

In Arizona, “we have a combination of very intense border issues that can be violent and drive a lot of the immigration debate in this country,” Burke told the magazine.

More from the interview:

“I’ve believed for a long time that a lot of it boils down to an immigration system that’s been broken. It’s less broke than it has been in the past, because resources have gone into it. But we have a visa system and caps on the number of individuals allowed into this country that have been arbitrary. The result is that the trade for and the smuggling of actual humans in and out of the country becomes an incredibly profitable business. And since it’s an illegal business, it ends up becoming very violent.”

Burke said he hopes his office can help advance comprehensive immigration reform. “We have an obligation to show that we can secure our border under the current system, so that reform can be achieved through Congress. I think the District can… lay a predicate for the fact that overall comprehensive reform can be accomplished because we’re doing our best to secure the border here.”

A former Arizona U.S. Attorney fired during the 2006 purge is representing a target of the state’s controversial sheriff, the Los Angeles Times reported on Friday.

Paul Charlton (Gallagher & Kennedy)

Ex-U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton’s client, Maricopa County, Ariz., supervisor Don Stapley, a Republican, has been arrested twice by deputies of the county’s sheriff, Joe Arpaio, according to the L.A. Times. Stapley has been a major critic of the sheriff’s tough stance on illegal immigration, the newspaper said.

The county supervisor was first arrested last December on charges stemming from an alleged failure to properly disclose business activities in an economic interest disclosure, according to the L.A. Times. Prosecutors dropped the case against him in September, the newspaper said.

Within days of the case dismissal, Arpaio deputies arrested Stapley again, according to the L.A. Times. This month, Stapley was charged with mishandling funds he raised to run for president of the National Association of Counties, the newspaper said.

Joe Arpaio (Gov)

“It’s just extraordinary, the kind of thing that takes place in Third World dictatorships,” Charlton told the L.A. Times.

The ex-U.S. Attorney, who is a shareholder at Phoenix law firm Gallagher & Kennedy, told the newspaper that he expected the most recent charges filed against his client would also be thrown out. “So many people are of one mind on a single issue — illegal immigration — that they are willing to ignore these misdeeds.”

Arpaio, who has strong support among county voters, dismissed the claims, according to the L.A. Times.

“We don’t abuse our power,” Arpaio told the newspaper. “We do what we have to do.”

We reported last week that the Justice Department set up a telephone tip-line as part of its probe of the sheriff. Arpaio, the self-proclaimed “America’s toughest sheriff,” has gained notoriety for ordering his deputies to descend on Latino neighborhoods to arrest illegal immigrants. His deputies have arrested thousands of undocumented aliens during these roundups.

Thomas Perez, President Obama’s pick to lead the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, passed the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning with only two Republicans voting against his nomination.

Thomas Perez

Only Sens. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) opposed his appointment in the 17-2 vote. The Perez nomination will now go before the full Senate for consideration.

Sessions, the ranking member of the committee, said Perez is an outspoken supporter of illegal immigrant rights, and raised concerns about Perez’s prior work on the board of CASA de Maryland, an influential immigrant advocacy group that has come under fire by anti-immigrations groups. Perez, a Dominican American, was CASA’s president when it lobbied the Maryland General Assembly in 2002 against a proposal to make it harder for immigrants to obtain drivers licenses, according to The Los Angeles Times.

“My concern is that we need someone who is faithful to protecting all American people,” Sessions said. “I am worried this nominee has an agenda that is not healthy and can politicize the department.”

Sessions previously brought up Perez’s involvement with CASA in a written question. Perez did not elaborate on his past with the organization, but assured Sessions he would be fair in handling immigration issues.

“If confirmed, I will work to enforce the laws that fall under the jurisdiction of the Civil Rights Division in a fair and even-handed manner,” Perez wrote.

Coburn had different concerns about Perez. He said Perez, former director of the Office of Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has supported providing translators to illegal immigrants who are receiving medical care. The Oklahoma senator, a medical doctor who operated on people without U.S. citizenship, said providing illegal immigrants with interpreters would “wreck health care.”

“He has a perverse sense of our obligations,” Coburn said referring to doctors.

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) also expressed concern over Perez’s views on immigration, but ended up supporting his nomination. The minority whip said he expects Perez would uphold the rule of law and support all Americans.

“In one sense, I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt,” Kyl said.

The Senate Judiciary Committee was also slated to vote on Mary L. Smith, Obama’s pick to lead the Justice Department Tax Division, and the States Secret Protection Act. The committee will consider the nomination and bill at its business meeting next Thursday.