Activist: Arpaio's crime sweeps prey on Latino community
August 12th, 2008 @ 6:10am
by Jim Cross/KTAR

While Sheriff Joe Arpaio announced that he will launch another crime suppression sweep Wednesday, the time and location are still not known.

Thout the sheriff is promising a different type of sweep from previous efforts in Phoenix and Mesa, Elias Bermudez from Immigrants Without Borders says the sheriff continues to prey on the Latino community.

"They're afraid because if they get detected by ICE, through Joe Arpaio, that's a death sentence for a lot of those people because they have to go back and they have to come back and risk their lives again."

Bermudez says the Sheriff has created a police state. "He is so feared by our people, that the minute they see the lights of any patrol cars our people begin to cry and to tremble at the fact that they may be stopped and arrested."

The activist is calling for calm as the sheriff unveils his latest crime sweep. "I think we should go out and firmly oppose what he's doing. But we need to be very careful not to create the atmosphere of getting back at Sheriff Joe."

"It is important that we do not get back at him because then we become the animal that we believe he is."

Since the crime sweeps began, about half of those arrested have been illegal immigrants, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.


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