DOJ coming down to check out Sheriff Joe Arpaio's racial-profiling operations
By David Neiwert Thursday Mar 12, 2009 5:00amNow, I know that Sheriff Joe told Glenn Beck he "welcomes" any investigation into his bordering-on-fascist rule in Arizona's Maricopa County. But I bet that nonetheless, he wasn't smiling yesterday:
The U.S. Justice Department has launched a civil-rights investigation of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office after months of mounting complaints that deputies are discriminating in their enforcement of federal immigration laws.
Officials from the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division notified Sheriff Joe Arpaio on Tuesday that they had begun the investigation, which will focus on whether deputies are engaging in "patterns or practices of discriminatory police practices and unconstitutional searches and seizures."
An expert said it is the department's first civil-rights probe related to immigration enforcement.
... The Justice Department frequently receives racial-profiling complaints against police departments, but investigations are rare, said David Harris, a University of Pittsburgh law professor and racial-profiling expert.
"The fact that this has come to their attention and they have announced their intent to investigate is highly significant," Harris said. "It says there is enough there to be investigated. It's not an iffy case that (can be ignored)."
Harris said this is the first civil-rights investigation stemming from immigration enforcement. The probe could last several months.
You can read the notice here. [PDF file]
Maybe the DOJ can take inspiration from Arpaio's Brazil-esque reality-TV show on Fox, in which unsuspecting schlub criminals are duped into being busted on TV. They could build a reality show around investigating Arpaio, including footage of interviews with his victims.
Of course, in the past, Arpaio hasn't been very tolerant of people who criticize him. If you got caught applauding anti-Arpaio comments at county meetings, for instance, you might be arrested by Arpaio's deputies. But I suspect that won't work too well with DOJ investigators, especially the FBI.
This is a hopeful step forward in dealing with the mess Arpaio has made in Maricopa County, and will help make clear to the right-wing nativists out there that scapegoating Latinos is not the way to deal with whatever issues they have with immigration. It makes a mess not just in Arizona, but the whole country.
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be careful what you ask for, Sheriff. You may get it.
Politics is about symbols. I think the Sheriff is about to be made an example of.
Well well well....looks likes there about to be NEEEEW shuriff in town now...
Arpaio had a very good, highly qualified opponent in the last election. His campaign group illegally ran commercials that they were sued for later. Damage done, pay later.
Arpaio has over 40,000 arrest warrants he hasn't executed, while hassling Latino workers trying for day jobs at the nearby Home Depot. He did a sweep through neighboring city of Guadalupe, pulling Latinos over and demanding ID (as if many of these people aren't American citizens).
He runs detention facilities called "tent city" with Korea era tents holding as many as 60 inmates (most in for DUI's), and brags that he doesn't pay more than $.26 a meal. Temperatures during the day in the tents during most of the year run over 130 degrees. His wife owns the canteens where the inmates can buy sodas and snacks, because the food in inedible.
I bet you could use the word "puckered" in a description of Sheriff Joe today.
That's what people used to say about Lionel Barrymore
That he had a great profile.
http://www.things-and-other-stuff.com/images/...
I have one thing to say:
This is long overdue.
Oh, BTW.
Arizona was taken by force from Mexico.
Many of these "Mexican" families have been here for centuries.
White people are the minority in AZ.
But white people's money ain't.
And the more money you have, the more "equal" you are.
Having been a resident of Maricopa County off & on for the last 2+ decades, I've seen Arpaio's neo-facist tactics up close--what has amazed me is how much the ultra-white, upper-middle class residents here just love his stormtrooper-style brand of justice.
No matter how many times various factions have gone after him, he continuously comes out on top--maybe this time he won't be so lucky.
Oh, let's hope not! I'm so sick of my step-mother sending me cut and pasted email stories about how great this fuckwad is....Can't wait to send back the actual facts the investigation turns up. (That is, providing it's a REAL investigation, and not just a show.)
Edit: She doesn't even LIVE THERE! *pissed off eyeroll*
Remember who our 2 senators are-John McCain & Jon Kyl--2 neo-facist scumbags as ever there were.
The white population is 75% retiree, or damn near & 99% neo-con--Sheriff Joe is seen as some kind of (caucasian) avenging angel who can do no wrong by these twisted idiots--it's truly arcane.
some of the congressmen here...
My "representative" is former Halliburton employee and former state chairman of "Focus on the Family" Trent Franks.
Across town where my son went to high school is Rick Renzi.
Renzi was the star of a mandatory high school assembly on "patriotism."
My son was forced to listen to Renzi speechify about "how the librulls are destroying our freedum."
You may remember that Renzi was busted for multiple felonies last year...
The list goes on and on...
what has amazed me is how much the ultra-white, upper-middle class residents here just love his stormtrooper-style brand of justice.
Keepin' the Coloreds down.
That's his job, that's why he keeps getting elected.
Sheriff Joe would have been a superstar as an officer in the SS.
http://snipurl.com/dlc6k
This is scary shit!
Another crazed Alan Keyes "call to arms" nutty fuck.
I wonder just how deep this rabbit hole goes.
This could be the tip of a fucking scary iceberg.
... because if Arpaio went unchecked by county officials, it either means they're complicit, or that Arpaio used threats/extortion to keep them in line.
... and if Arpaio went unchecked by the voters, it means they approve of his tactics and, thus, his views on minorities as the criminals.
... also, have complaints been filed previously? What has changed or come to light that an investigation is suddenly a priority or even possible? Did some of the uber-Christians and GOP faithful in the Gonzales DOJ sideline this?
my link wasn't on topic really...sorry....
... are some conservative loons to staple themselves to Arpaio, like Hannity, Beck, Norris, Prager ... and thrown in Tom Tancredo and Virgil Goode for an added bonus.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzJ2NKp23WU
I'm not sure which one it is. how in the hell does a county elect these assholes in the first place. isn't he from there? Had'nt the locals ever talked to this guy? I would bet the voters in that county knew exactly what kind of ass this guy was before he was put into office.
Sorry Bix12 I did not read your post prior to typing mine....I agree with what you are saying.
There is an enclave of older, white voters called Sun City here in Maricopa County. They vote and they vote in large enough percentages that they tip the balance toward re-electing Sheriff Arpaio. They are scared of anyone who is not white and Sheriff Arpaio plays on those fears.
i was in the first crew that started building sun city for dell e webb ,worked on the sewer line crew , the only retirement community there back then was youngtown, but it wasnt much, back then phoenix was a safe place to live in, suncity must have really grown up because when i was there a few years ago to vist my brother it had grown as far as the eye could see phoenix turned into a cesspool , the sound of crazy mofos gunfire and police sirens filled the night with pure flucking wonder at what happened to that city since the sixtys , hell even my brother finaly got the hell out of thier after the neiborhood became one big crack house, viva la revolution!
Phoenix (and surrounding areas..i.e, Maricopa County) is a neo-con Heaven--us liberals here are outnumbered at least 3,000:1--and that's no exaggeration. This place is a political backwater like you can't imagine. Every form of cultural retard flourishes here.
I was getting gas at a station on I-10 in 'way west Texas, heading east and home (from delivering a horse to my daughter in Snowflake) when a west-bound truck and small travel trailer pulled in. Spray-painted on it was "Phoenix or Bust" and "Leaving Pennsylvania to the damn Libruls" with a disparaging remark about that governor. Now, I don't know about what those folks were leaving behind, but they were a couple of old, fat white guys with jarhead haircuts. I knew that Arpaio was their main reason for moving there... Sprayed their tailpipe with Double Agent while they weren't looking. They were spreading peace and love through their exhaust from there on! http://royaloil.org has a small explanation on the last page.
MaryK....that royaloil site...wow...
is that shit for real? Tell me that ain't for real LMAO!
and the citizens of Maricopa County--the majority of whom are settled snow-birds or refugees from LA--would still re-elect him.
He keeps the coloreds down...It's his job, and they appreciate his skills...
As much as the civil rights violations are highly important, there is also the apparent corruption that seems to surround Sheriff Arpaio and his upper echelon. The DOJ needs to look at more than just the immigration issue.
Let the arresting begin of these bigoted Reslugs that purposely trampled on peoples civil rights.
I hope they run his ass outta town.
I know that this is off topic, but it does relate to Arizona and I wanted to bring it to the attention of Crooks & Liars as an example of how bad things are here in Arizona - http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/loca...
...mentions that Orange County used to be the focal point of this action, and claims to have had the original Bad-Boy-Sheriff:
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2009-03-12/new... While you're at the Phoenix New Times site, if you haven't read the investigative reporting that really opened up this can of worms, click on "News" and find it.
You can also find the stories which broke about the polygamists across the Grand Canyon, the same ones who made the news last year here in Texas when they were raided and CPS took hundreds of children (but had to give them back.)
I lived in Arizona for most of the years since 1980.
And i have read that our new homeland security chief, former governor janet napolitano, let it all go on and on with arpaio. Ugh.
Nail the racist pig and slap his sorry butt into prison where he belongs.
wear the pink underwear.
I dont live in Arizona and havent experienced Sheriff Arpaio's style of law enforcement. What doesnt surprize me is the nasty way liberals rip into someone they dont like while sucking the ass of a President who isnt even an American citizen and suppporting the facist policies of the Bush administration.
I dont see why I should support illegal aliens health care or in any other way after working for 40 years. If you want to give away your money do it, but dont think you get mine without a fight.
"Socialism - a great idea until you run out of other peoples money"
Lou Dobbs, bending minds everywhere.
You are a DUMBASS!
Check your prescription label. You are supposed to cut those pills in half.
They're NOT suppositories....
And you are blind.
"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous tha sincere ignorance and conscience stupidity" Dr Martin Luther King (1963)
Yeah...you're a conservative.
But it seems that you are.
Then the right-wing should read factual information , which deals with the actual facts instead of The right-wing BS...with no substance like Rush , Fox news? and other corporate information sites.. Which feeds people propaganda so they can keep screwing our country and citizens over and over ..while they are totally destroying our country..
Bush & Cheney has even stated on the public news media that they have committed crimes like illegal spying , treason , torture and Cheney's death squads and right-wing kiss they dictatorial feet. and a....
Yes and the war in Iraq was not for oil , spying on American citizens is not illegal , treason is find for dictators , given our tax money to the wealthy and corporations is just fine with the right-wing while they say the poor , seniors and working Americans are getting to m
the most dangerous highway in the USA.
You are a true dumbass.
I agree with you on the illegal aliens being in this country. But when you spread your miss-information about Obama not being a citizens and attacking the left with your Rush and Fox news? propaganda , then you show your lack of information about subjects...
If not for miss-truth , miss-statements the republicans would have nothing to say..
I have never been a fan of Shariff Joe and have lived in AZ for 15 years. I often wonder how he gets re-elected to office.
Here is the rub. We Arizonans are tired of our tax dollars paying for the illegal immigrants health care. No one can be turned away from a hospital. Did you know that Arizona ranks 49th in the US for funding our children's education? Money that is being spent on both "rounding up illegal immigrants" & their health care is taking away from other things that need our time and attention.
Unfortunatly, without racial profiling it would be difficult to "locate" the aliens. It is unfortunate that people have to go through the suffering of being sent back to their country... however it is a price they have to be willing to pay when they are illegaly here. I have friends that have gone through just trying to get a VISA to stay in the states & have been denied. Because they were honorable people the returned to their home country instead of breaking our laws by remaining in the states. It sucks. But that is the price they had to pay. Why should it be different for anyone else?
Yes, you don't live in Arizona and haven't experienced Sheriff Joe's style of law enforcement. Consequently, you are uninformed and should be ignored. Educate yourself by going to Http://www.newtimes.com and find out the truth. Arpaio is a serial abuser, who has even been singled out by Amnesty International for his abuse. Several people have died in his restraining chairs, and others have been beaten to death. The county has had to pay out millions in damages to survivors or their relatives.
Also, if you are stupid enough to think that undocumented workers don't pay their way, think again. They pay sales taxes, income taxes, SS taxes, property taxes just like you and I. But they won't get any of their taxes returned to them, as they won't (can't) file for them. This amounts to a multi-billion dollar boon to the US Treasury. They do the jobs we won't, like crop picking, slaughterhouse workers. They get ripped off by employers who don't pay them, and threaten to call the cops if they complain.
Think before opening mouth. It's refreshing.
"The fact that this has come to their attention..."
When angry, and slightly wanky, bloogers-in-housecoats (except I'm not in my mother's basement, or eatng Cheetos, OH and not in a housecoat either, but... ), all the way over in Korea know about it, it's time to act.
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