Arpaio denounces 'witch hunt' in D.C.
by E. J. Montini - Apr. 2, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

Today the House Judiciary subcommittee on immigration, citizenship, refugees, border security and international law and the subcommittee on the Constitution, civil rights and civil liberties are scheduled to hold a hearing on "the public-safety and civil-rights implications of state and local enforcement of federal immigration laws."

Sheriff Joe Arpaio has a shorter description for what's going on in Washington.

"It's all a publicity stunt," he told me Wednesday. "A witch hunt."
The hearing was announced a while back by Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers. Among those who are scheduled to testify are Mesa Police Chief George Gascon, a longtime critic of Arpaio, as well as Julio Cesar Mora, an American citizen who reportedly will say he was harassed by Maricopa County deputies during a raid on a Phoenix landscaping company.

Criticism of Arpaio most likely will be the backdrop to a larger discussion about Immigration and Customs Enforcement's 287(g) program, which allows local police agencies to enforce federal immigration law. Critics of the program would like to see the local operations severely curtailed or eliminated.

I asked Arpaio what it would mean to his department if that happened.

"It doesn't mean a thing," he said. "The bottom line is this: We still have the state human-smuggling law. We still have the employer-sanction law. My people still have the right when doing their job to inquire if the suspects are illegal. Now, if we do not have a state charge, we bring them to ICE. What happens if we don't have 287(g)? Well, we'll just call ICE and have them come and pick them up, rather than bring them there. I don't know the big difference, unless ICE will refuse to pick them up."

He added, "It's all cosmetics. They're playing politics with enforcing the law, that's what it looks like to me."

Arpaio already describes his neighborhood crime sweeps and work-site raids as an enforcement of state laws, not federal immigration laws.

He said of the congressional hearings, "It's all a publicity stunt. I'm the poster guy, now. It's a witch hunt."

Arpaio told me that he had invited congressional critics to visit his operation in Arizona, even to ride along with his deputies. He said that he got no response.

"I spent 30 years working for the federal government (in the DEA)," he said "It's sad that 30 years of my life I gave fighting international drug trafficking and these congressmen didn't even have the courtesy to call me and ask about the facts. I could have responded. But they didn't call and didn't even answer my letter. Instead they have the attorney general investigating me. I'm not concerned."

He said that not being invited to testify at today's hearing also does not bother him.

"They don't want to hear me," he said. "They only invite the people who are against me. I'm glad I'm not going. It saves the taxpayers the price of a plane ticket."

The sheriff said that his critics are "flexing their muscles," taking advantage of a sympathetic Democratic administration. He added that no matter what happens in Washington, he will continue with his crime-suppression operations, as well as investigations into human smuggling and other immigration-related crimes.

Finally, speaking of himself in the third person, Arpaio said, "For this administration, I've got to give them credit. It only took them 60 days to go after the sheriff. I wish they would solve the border problem in 60 days. Or all these other problems in 60 days. That's pretty quick action. And I'm not even running for president . . . yet."

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