Breitbart.com
He's been described as Hitler and a member of the Klu Klux Klan by
Hispanic critics and immigrant rights groups, but Sheriff Joe Arpaio
prefers to see himself as an equal op****tunities advocate. "We lock
everybody up," he says.
Arpaio, the self-styled "toughest sheriff in America" has ruled his
fifedom in Arizona's Maricopa County with a steely, zero-tolerance that
has enraged human rights activists but delighted headline-writers the
world over.
Demonstrations and picket lines follow his sweeps of largely Hispanic
neighborhoods. He's been criticized by mayors and the governor of Arizona.
On a recent Mexican holiday, one group batted around a Joe Arpaio
pinata, an effigy filled with sweets that children attempt to split open
with a stick.
The opprobrium heaped in Arpaio's direction is water off a duck's back:
after 16 years in office, the veteran lawman is showing no signs of
mellowing.
"It just makes me more vigilant and go out more," Arpaio told AFP in an
interview. "They ought to shut their mouth, let the system take its
course, and if they don't like the laws, go out and get them changed.
"But don't try to intimidate me to stop enforcing the laws. It will
never happen ... That's how I take care of business."
During nearly two decades, Arpaio has garnered world-wide publicity for
creating a tent city in the Arizona desert to house county jail inmates,
sending out men and women in chain gangs to pick up trash, and clothing
inmates in striped suits and pink underwear.
He even offered to accommodate Paris Hilton in one of Maricopa County's
jails when the celebrity socialite was sentenced to prison in Los
Angeles last year for driving offences.
His latest crackdown against illegal immigrants began about 18 months ago.
He has nothing against immigrants -- his parents were Italian immigrants
('legal' he adds pointedly) -- or Mexicans, he says.
For Arpaio, illegal immigration is a fairness issue. Why should some
people wait years for citizen****p through the proper channels while
others slip across the border?
"The minute you crossed the border, you violated the law," Arpaio said.
"There's no doubt that illegals are involved in drug trafficking and
other crimes. Many of them, maybe the majority, come here to work.
"Still, it's illegal to come here. I'm going to continue to enforce the
law. I took an oath of office. I'm the bad guy. That's okay. It's
alright with me."
Arpaio's last sweep sent 200 deputies, helicopters, and an armored car
into a one square-mile Latino-dominated town, pulling over anyone with a
cracked tail-light or a broken wind****eld.
He rejects claims that his department is targeting anyone with brown skin.
"We don't racial profile," he said. "We lock everybody up. I'm an equal
op****tunity guy."
About 16 percent of the 77,000 inmates booked into county jail this year
were illegal immigrants. Arpaio believes that by keeping pressure on
illegal immigrants, he can drive them from Arizona.
"They're heading south, or they're going to California, but they're sure
getting out of Arizona," he said.
"If you can get them out of Arizona, you can get them out of the United
States of America little by little. I'm not saying line up the buses,
but put the pressure on them.
"Little by little they're going to leave because it's going to be hard
to find a job and they're going to go to jail."
Workers' rights and immigrants' rights groups say Arpaio's policies have
created a climate of fear.
Elias Bermudez heads Immigrants Without Borders, an immigrants' rights
advocacy group. Arpaio's policies are discriminatory and "not conducive
to a county that is 30 percent Hispanic," he said.
"He has abused his authority and his elected position to create havoc
and a feeling of terror in our community," Bermudez said.
"He has capitalized on the fear and vulnerability of people who came
into this country without do***ents, not in defiance of the laws of the
United States, but because this country does not have a legal mechanism
to seek work with do***ents.
"This is a problem of developed nations against undeveloped nations, and
it is a problem that needs solving."
Arpaio's sweeps will continue as long as he is sheriff, he says.
His public sup****t -- 80 to 90 percent approval ratings in polls -- make
it unlikely he will lose a campaign for re-election in the fall.
"I get more press in one day than the governor gets," he said. "If you
go anywhere in the world, all you have to do is say Arizona,' and they
say Sheriff Joe.'
"Do you think they know who the governor is? I'm the toughest sheriff in
America."
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