Megan Cassidy

AGUILA — Sheriff’s officials trekked out to the western fringes of Maricopa County to encourage seasonal migrant workers to reach out to deputies should they fall victim to a crime.

Aguila, an unincorporated, sleepy farming community 25 miles west of Wickenburg, is not immune to thefts, assaults and other crimes, but many of the incidents go unreported, according to sheriff’s officials.

About 30 seasonal workers broke briefly from their melon harvesting Tuesday morning to listen as Deputy Hector Martinez, a Spanish-speaking community liaison, urged laborers to reach out to deputies should they fall victim to a crime. After the meet-and-greet, deputies distributed fliers that echoed Martinez’s sentiments and provided both emergency and non-emergency numbers.

Deputies planned to reach out to more than 300 workers, most of whom are citizens of Guatemala. The farm laborers are authorized to work in the U.S., but there are concerns that some might hesitate to report crimes to lawenforcement agencies, particularly those that have reputations for engaging in immigration enforcement.

“We want these workers to know we are interested in their safety while they are in the county,” Sheriff Joe Arpaio said in a released statement.

The outreach effort comes just over a year after a federal judge found that Arpaio’s office had violated the constitutional rights of thousands of Latinos and several months after he laid out specific orders that would prevent discrimination in the future.

Along with increased