Sheriff Joe Arpaio is an American hero. Arpaio spent 25 years as a special agent with the DEA stationed in Turkey and Mexico, and finally to the position of head of the DEA’s Arizona branch. He became the Maricopa County Arizona sheriff in 1992 and has been re-elected four consecutive times. That alone tells you something.
He serves inmates bologna sandwiches, outlawed sexually explicit material, broadcasts classical music, opera and Frank Sinatra hits throughout the jail, uses tents to house inmates and makes them wear pink underwear and uses pink handcuffs. What a guy.
In the past his detractors have included Amnesty International, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Arizona Ecumenical Council, the American Jewish Committee, and the Arizona chapter of the Anti-Defamation League.
Now the Obama administration is going after him because he orders his staff to deport illegal immigrants.
In a letter dated March 10, 2009, Loretta Smith, acting assistant attorney general at the DOJ, detailed what her department would be investigating:
“This is to inform you that the United States Department of Justice is commencing an investigation of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (”MCSO”) pursuant to the pattern or practice provisions of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994,42 U.S.C. §14141 (“Section 14141″) and the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968,42 U.S.C. § 3789d (“Safe Streets Act”), and pursuant to the prohibitions against national origin discrimination in Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,42 U.S.C. §§ 2000d to 2000d-7 (“Title Yr’) and the Safe Streets Act, 42 U.S.C. § 3789d(c).”
The letter continues: “The investigation will focus on alleged patterns or practices of discriminatory police practices and unconstitutional searches and seizures conducted by the MCSO, and on allegations of national origin discrimination, including failure to provide meaningful access to MCSO services for limited English proficient (LEP) individuals.”
What are they saying? Does this mean that they cannot target hispanics anymore? Maybe they should be looking for illegal French people? The real twist on this is the people Arpaio and his staff are deporting on the ones they find right inside their jail.
Concerning the DOJ’s investigation, Arpaio told CNSNews.com: “I will not back down. What I am doing is upholding the laws of the state of Arizona, and I will not be persuaded to turn my back on my oath of office as sheriff of this county.”
“While the Sheriff’s illegal immigration and human smuggling operations conducted on the streets and roadways here have netted nearly 2,300 arrests, another very successful effort to locate illegal aliens has been quietly happening inside Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s jails,” the release said.
It continues: “Despite the growing criticism of the Sheriff’s illegal immigration fight by some valley politicians and activists, Sheriff Arpaio says 60 detention officers trained by ICE officials have conducted over 106,000 interviews and investigations of inmates booked into jail since April of 2007.
“In those 18 months, 16,000 inmates were determined to be illegal aliens. Either they have already been deported or will be deported after being tried and/or serving their sentences for crimes committed in the valley. The work being done be Arpaio’s detention staff is a likely contributor to the recent reduction in crime in the valley,” the press release added.
“That number of 16,000 represents a full one-third (1/3) of all inmates in the United States who have had holds placed on them after being identified by jail or prison officials as illegal aliens.” Full story [here].
ICE training is not something that’s exclusive to Maricopa County.
Allen County Sheriff Ken Fries wants to give some of his officers extra arrest powers when it comes to enforcing immigration violations against certain immigrants here illegally.
Fries wants at least 10 of his officers – and possibly up to 20 – from both the traffic and confinement divisions to enter into a program dubbed 287(g) and conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The program would give those officers the power to arrest people for immigration violations if they are also charged with serious felonies or driving while intoxicated.
“The arrest powers could be used only in those officers’ normal course of duty, according to ICE regulations. Fries said it would apply to all illegal immigrants. According to Fries, he feels the program would be backed by anyone who was here legally, including immigrants.
“There’s a right way to come here,” Fries said.
Apparently Obama’s administration doesn’t agree with Arpaio or Fries.
Amazing.
AWB
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Tags: Barack Hussein Obama, ICE, illegal immigrants, Joe Arpaio, Ken Fries
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And accidents can ALWAYS occur…especially along the border, can’t they?
(keep em out ONE way or another)
Sheriff Joe is a PATRIOT.
(and other than the pink undies, he paints a damn nicer place to “live” than MY neighborhood)
Back off Barry…you’re WAY outta your league with Joe!
Good thing you agree with him. This is the same guy that would have you arrested and prosecuted for looking at public records if he thought you were writing something he didn’t like.
What we need is mo’ Sheriff Joe and a lot less liberal bureaucrat minions with “OBAMA” stamped on their foreheads.
As to the public records fiasco, in reading the article that you referenced Michaelk, it can be interpreted a couple of ways. Just the tone of the writers attitude leads me to believe he’s probably a real pain in the ass on most occasions. Seems simple enough, the reporter just had to “wait his turn” and when the deputies were finished, he could have “perused” any and all documents. Instead he was “fishing” for an altercation. Lousy behavior on both sides granted, but I’ll take Sheriff Joe’s side anytime on anything.
Tim: The job of the press is to be a pain in the ass to the establishment, whether it’s the left, right, or tilted-at-windmills. If the press isn’t pissing off the guys in charge, they’re not doing their jobs.
I’m not sure that there’s any need to “wait his turn” to look at boxes which have already been processed and are sitting idle with nobody actively working on them, especially if (as the article suggests) Arizona law says that he CAN look at them at any time. Certainly, common decency and politeness might’ve suggested not screwing around the boxes that had not yet been processed (so as not to confuse the order things get processed in, or whatever), but I don’t see a lot in that article where I’d want to jump onto the side of the deputies on that one….