Immigration debate heats up at Maricopa County board meeting

[zeezil]

Immigration debate heats up at Maricopa County board meeting
Reported by: ABC15.com staff, wire reports
Last Update: 12:17 am

The immigration debate intensified at Wednesday's Maricopa County Board of Supervisor's meeting Wednesday.

Several members of the activist group Maricopa County Citizens for Safety and Accountability appeared at the meeting to voice their frustrations with MCSO's fight against undocumented immigration.

Activists used time set aside for public comments to admonish Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his crime suppression sweeps as they did at board meetings in June and July.

Randy Parraz, a co-founder of the group, cited a six-month investigation by the East Valley Tribune that was published in July.

The Tribune's report found that MCSO's response times to regular law enforcement work had slowed down and arrests had declined during the undocumented immigration enforcement operations during the past two years.

"Citizens are standing up and saying we have issues with these response times," said Parraz. "We have issues with these uninvestigated sex crimes. Women are being raped, teenagers have been raped and nothing happened."

Parraz also said the county officials need to apologize to people who have been arrested on suspicion of being undocumented immigrants who were later proven to be U.S. citizens.

"What would that cost you to do that publicly, saying we're going to apologize for anyone who's been unjustly detained, who's rights have been violated?" asked Parraz. "What is your threshold for injustice?"

Lisa Allen, the Maricopa County Director of Public Relations, made it clear she's not a fan of anti-Arpaio activists.

"Open border activists and some elected officials have a primary goal, and that goal is to oust Joe Arpaio from office this November," said Allen. "All attempts of doing so is an affront, not only to the sheriff but also to the vast majority of Maricopa County citizens who believe Joe Arpaio is upholding all the laws in Arizona."

Allen went on to accuse activists and a local newspaper of reporting false accusations regarding the performance of MCSO deputies.

"Now, we have had conversations with some of you already to help ease your minds about the drivel and lies being repeated over and over again by these activist and some local print media regarding our illegal immigration operations and the overall police work being done by MCSO," said Allen.

Allen ended her speech by saying that opponents of Arpaio are desperate to get Arpaio out of office because "...They know that without Sheriff Arpaio and County Attorney Andy Thomas, this county's fight to reduce illegal immigration would shrivel up and die."
http://www.abc15.com/news/local/story.a ... 0331b13a69

[FedUpinFarmersBranch]

Sheriff's staff comes to Arpaio's defense
The Associated Press
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 08.21.2008
PHOENIX — Some Maricopa County Sheriff's Office employees are disputing a citizen coalition's criticisms of Sheriff Joe Arpaio over stepped-up enforcement against illegal immigration.
The coalition has cited a long list of accusations, among them, that the sheriff's office has over 40,000 felony warrants, has allowed serious sex crimes to go uninvestigated and is stopping, harassing and arresting U.S. citizens for being brown.
The Maricopa Citizens for Safety and Accountability are trying to pressure the county Board of Supervisors to put an end to a series of crime sweeps by sheriff's deputies that have resulted in the arrests of more than 200 illegal immigrants over the past several months.
In response, the Sheriff's Office employees said Wednesday that the allegations are false and are meant to force Arpaio to focus on activities other than locking up illegal immigrants.
"When they try to draw these lines that everything points toward immigration, it has nothing to do with it," said Larry Black, the sheriff's director of special operations. "It's an avenue to say, please don't arrest immigrants because we have other crime problems because of this (enforcement)."
Arpaio has accused the coalition of distorting data and making up lies in order to try and push him out of office in the upcoming general election.
Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox has been openly critical of Arpaio's immigration-enforcement tactics.
She said sheriff's officials should take the time to discuss the issues with the supervisors in a more comprehensive fashion.
"It is a hard issue, but when people believe they are being racially profiled that's a big issue," Wilcox said. "Taxpayers have a right to question that."
The citizens coalition, which held a town-hall-style meeting Tuesday in Phoenix with more than 500 attendees, plans to speak out at the supervisors meeting next month.
The group's members want the supervisors to issue a public apology to citizens whom the Sheriff's Office has harassed and to put the group's concerns on an upcoming agenda.



http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/253892.php

[misterbill]

"Mary Rose is very involved with the local and national Hispanic community and has served as a past or current member of such organizations as MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense & Education Fund) and NCLR (National Council of La Raza). She also served five years as the Chair of the NALEO (National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials) Educational Fund".


Mary Rose Garrido Wilcox was born in Superior, Arizona, and is a fourth generation Arizona native from a pioneer Mexican-American family
Another false American whose loyalty is to her ethnicity, not to her country, not to America!!! Notice , not an American family of Mexican origins, but a hyphenated American. America will cease to be if we are populated with hypenated Americans instead of Americans.


If they want to keep playing the ethnic card, we all should play it. I want Italian elected officials and open admission to the USA for Italians. They should need no passport. We should grant them citzenship instantly and make them eligible for public office.

Is it any wonder she is critical of Sheriff Joe?????