AZ Sherriff Loses Federal Immigration Authority And Keeps Right on Making Arrests

This should give you some idea of how seriously screwed up Arizona is right now.  Despite having made two trips there in the last five months, I really had no depth of understanding as to how bad things were regarding the apparent vendetta that Sheriff Joe Arpaio has against illegal immigrants.

Jump in your Way Back machine and head to October 2009.  Sheriff Arpaio, an Arizona law enforcement official notorious for his crackdown on illegal immigration is stripped of his powers to enforce federal immigration law.  In response to this action Arpaio says the reason for the removal is due to political concerns from DC.

“Let them all go brag that they took away the sheriff’s authority. Let them all do that. That doesn’t bother me. I don’t have an ego. I will continue doing the same thing,” the Republican sheriff said, noting he can still enforce state immigration laws. “What has changed, other than the politics and the perception emanating from Washington?”

At that time, Arpaio’s office has more officers with the special powers than any other local police agency in the country. For more than two years, 100 of his deputies have made immigration arrests and another 60 jail officers have identified inmates who are illegal immigrants.  He goes on further to say that he plans to continue his crackdown on illegal immigration by enforcing state laws that prohibit immigrant smuggling and laws that bar employers from knowingly hire illegal immigrants.

OK, let’s stop there for a second.  I’ll be the first to say that human trafficking is a heinous crime that needs to be stopped.  According to US Immigrations Support,

thousands of illegal immigrants have died from dehydration in the Arizona desert as a result of being stranded by their coyotes or getting lost. There have even been cases where the coyotes have killed the illegal immigrants because they could not afford to render payment for the service provided. Illegal immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border can expect to pay anywhere from $1,500 to $3,500, sometimes less or more depending on the smuggler. Other methods that human smugglers use to transport illegal immigrants are tractor-trailers, railroad cars and vessel cargo containers. Sometimes the voyage may last hours and other times even weeks. Food, water and space are limited and the conditions faced by the immigrants tend to be unpleasant.”

It should go without saying that human trafficking should be obliterated and those that do it brought to justice.  Nobody should have to risk their lives, or pay an extraordinary amount of money that they can ill-afford in pursuit of a better life.

Now, back to that “bar employers” thing: I’m not a lawyer and I’m hardly an authority on immigration laws, but it seems to me that Arpaio is still overstepping his boundaries.  Correct me if I’m wrong, I thought that enforcement of the I-9 Immigration Reform and Control Act was a Federal act – not state.

OK, let me get back on track with this.  Not one month after losing his Federal powers, it’s discovered that Sherriff Arpaio and his officers are still making arrests.  This was provided to me by an anonymous source:

Deputies Arrest 26 More Illegal Aliens

Totaling 98 Since Loss of Federal Authority (Maricopa County, Arizona) Maricopa County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested 26 more illegal aliens during two separate traffic stops in North Phoenix and near Fountain Hills. The arrests bring the total number of illegal aliens arrested to 98 since the Sheriff’s Office lost its federal authority to act as Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents less than three weeks ago.

Deputies last night arrested 18 of the 26 illegal aliens on state human smuggling charges, a class four felony. The remaining eight were turned over to ICE without incident on suspicion of being in the country illegally.

Sheriff Arpaio stated that the Federal government’s move to take away over 100 deputies’ authority to act as federal immigration agents has not deterred his office from enforcing illegal immigration laws.

The Sheriff’s Office continues to be the only law enforcement agency to enforce all aspects of federal and state immigration laws.

Sheriff Arpaio stated that pressure from politicians, activist groups, the Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Department of Justice will not deter him and his office from continuing the enforcement of illegal immigration laws.

Arpaio also stated that a wide ranging crime suppression operation is imminent

Uh, ok.  Joe?  Now, we talked about you making arrests for us at the Federal level and told you that you couldn’t do it anymore?  Remember that?  So why are you still doing it?  Arpaio’s attempt to enforce immigration arrests while hiding behind the cloak of informing ICE officers to pick up those violating immigration laws doesn’t hold much weight considering that those were being detained in a 1500 bed facility staged a revolt due to their treatment.

Sheriff Arpaio has been accused more than once of being publicity hungry, and in an act that obviously supports that claim he marched shackled immigrants in black-striped jail uniforms through the streets of Phoenix from the Durango Jail to a new Tent City he has erected to hold them, surrounded by an electric fence. The degrading spectacle was a blatant publicity stunt to promote Arpaio’s new Fox Reality Channel TV program.

The Phoenix New Times notes that,

It’s not the first time Arpaio’s pulled something like this, of course. He did it in 2005, when 700 prisoners were moved from one jail to another in only their pink underwear and flip-flops. But this time, for all intents and purposes, Arpaio was segregating inmates according to race, moving over 200 “illegal aliens” to their own Tent City, ringed by an electric fence.

Almost all of the men running the press gantlet were Hispanic. They wore striped uniforms, were chained to each other, and in some cases carried their belongings with them in paper or plastic sacks. Their garb read “UNSENTENCED,” a reminder that 70% of those in Joe’s jails have not been convicted of anything, and are simply awaiting trial.

And these are the actions of a man that is the target of more than 2,700 civil rights complaints and has a stack of 40,000 felony warrants backlogged on his desk because of his prioritization of immigrant-related stunts.

It’s obvious that Sheriff Arpaio has seen one too many “Walking Tall” movies.  Also, it’s obvious that he doesn’t play well with others.  Here are just a few examples of his greatest hits that I found while researching this piece (not in chronological order):

1. 7Aug2009 – Mayor Phil Jackson writes a letter to the Arizona Republic about his issues around Arpaio and his conduct.
2. 24May2010 – Judge makes strong allegations against Arpaio after being accused of bribery.
3. 24May2010 – For the eighth time in three years, Arpaio sues the Maricopa Board of Supervisors.
4. 24May2010 – Arpaio calls on Arizona residents to boycott travel to Mexico (from his own website)
5. 12Jan2009 – Arpaio’s jails lose accreditation.  Again.

Unless you’ve been living in a cave on the moon, you’re well aware that Arizona has passed legislation on the most controversial piece of immigration “reform” that has ever been put to paper.  With Sherriff Arpaio, the self-described “America’s toughest sheriff” in the driver’s seat things in Arizona are going to be hell on earth for anyone that isn’t the whitest of white and able to produce papers on demand.

I’m going to put my neck out there right now and predict that if the “papers please” law survives it’s current legal challenges, that anyone of color in Arizona will be subjected to detainment by ill-trained deputies who have a superior officer in Arpaio that will be pleased as punch every single time they turn on their flashing lights.

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