Thread: Arpaio denounces 'witch hunt' in D.C.

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."

www.azcentral.com

...and that's why we LOVE Sheriff Joe!

Exactly! Go Sheriff Joe!

Controversial Arizona Sheriff Snubbed by House Panel on Immigration
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio couldn't defend himself because the House didn't invite him.

FOXNews.com

Thursday, April 02, 2009

Two House Judiciary subcommittees convened Thursday to examine allegations of unconstitutional immigration enforcement tactics -- and took target practice at Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona, whose controversial methods have been called racist by activists and Democratic lawmakers.

But Arpaio didn't defend himself on Capitol Hill. He did not testify to the committee and he did not attend the joint hearing.

That's because the Maricopa County, Ariz., law enforcement chief wasn't invited, said House Judiciary Committee sources.

"He was not asked or invited to come to this hearing, but he wasn't the direct focus of it," a source within the Judiciary Committee, speaking on condition of anonymity, told FOXNews.com.

The joint hearing by the House Judiciary Committee Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law Subcommittee and Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties Subcommittee Thursday was convened to "focus on wide-ranging allegations of racial profiling in connection with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement's 287 program." It also was used to "examine allegations of unconstitutional policing and immigration enforcement tactics" like those used by Arpaio.

Arpaio's policing methods have drawn widespread criticism from lawmakers and activist groups, like Amnesty International and the ACLU, for allegedly using racial profiling to fight crime in the Southwest. The Arizona sheriff and his deputies have also come under fire for keeping harsh prison conditions and for unfairly targeting illegal immigrants.

Arpaio, who promotes himself as "America's Toughest Sheriff," said he's being unfairly vilified for his approach to law enforcement.

"It's a political witch hunt to use me to stop local law enforcement from enforcing federal laws," Arpaio told FOXNews.com on Thursday, noting that activists who regularly protest his policing hold up signs calling him "Hitler" and "Nazi."

"I've been the sheriff going on 17 years, and I always get re-elected. And all the polls on this issue of immigration support me so it's just a small minority of politicians and activists who accuse me" of mistreating suspects, Arpaio said.

Among the primary concerns during testimony was section 287 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which was put into law in 1996 as a result of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act.

Section 287 authorizes the secretary of Homeland Security to enter into agreements with state and local law enforcement agencies that allow them to identify and detain immigration offenders they encounter during their law enforcement operations.

On Thursday, members of Congress and some of Arpaio's most outspoken critics -- like Mesa, Ariz., Police Chief George Gascon -- met on Capitol Hill to review the impact of federal immigration law on the ability to combat crime by illegal immigrants while also protecting their civil rights.

Gascon did not mention Arpaio by name during his opening testimony, but said the authority handed to local police by federal officials has created an environment in which racial profiling and "constitutional concerns" are setting back the effort to protect the public.

"The impact on local law enforcement in this politically charged environment can be devastating. In some cases, it is setting the police profession back to the 1950s and '60s when police officers were sometimes viewed in minority communities as the enemy," he said.

During Thursday's testimony, Arpaio's absence was noted.

"I want to make clear that he declined to come," said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., chairwoman of the immigration subcommittee.

But when Lofgren was questioned by Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, about whether the sheriff had been formerly invited, Lofgren said, "No, he said in advance he would not intend to come. In a newspaper article he said he would not come."

Arpaio, who has served as Maricopa County's sheriff since 1992, said he has dedicated the last 30 years working with the federal government, inside the Justice Department and as a Drug Enforcement Administration official, and he would think lawmakers would want to hear about his experience.

"You think they would have called me just to get my expertise -- if nothing else -- about the Mexican-U.S. border. But instead they get one of my biggest critics -- a Mesa police chief who doesn’t like me going into his town arrested illegals -- and a couple other people," he said.

"These congressmen never had the courtesy to ask me to speak," he said.

Arpaio also defended his policing methods, saying they are both constitutional and effective in lowering crime rates.

"We investigated 147,000 people booked into our jail under 287. And 23,000 murderers all the way down we proved are illegal so they can not get back on the street. That's why crime has gone down in this area," he said.

The sheriff said he has invited congressional critics to come to Arizona to observe his operations, but so far has got no response.

"I'm just enforcing the law that I took an oath of office to enforce. And nobody's going to deter me or scare me away," he said. "They can go after me all they want, but I'm very comfortable the way I run my operation."

www.foxnews.com

""We investigated 147,000 people booked into our jail under 287. And 23,000 murderers all the way down we proved are illegal so they can not get back on the street. That's why crime has gone down in this area," he said."

GO SHERIFF JOE!! We love you, we support you, you are our hero!

Originally Posted by Judy

""We investigated 147,000 people booked into our jail under 287. And 23,000 murderers all the way down we proved are illegal so they can not get back on the street. That's why crime has gone down in this area," he said."

GO SHERIFF JOE!! We love you, we support you, you are our hero!

Good Grief! I didn't catch that number the first time but doesn't that mean at least 23,000 dead as a result of illegal aliens??? 23,000?????

maybe we need to call it a witch hunt when these freaking illegal aliens when they are killing Americans. No we are suppose to shut our mouths and not say a word, afterall they are GODS children and they only come here to work, to feed their families of thousands.

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-152205.html
Sheriff Joe's deputies SPEAK OUT

http://www.abc15.com/content/news/phoen ... 1bS_A.cspx

In the face of two congressional hearings, Sheriff Joe Arpaio is blasting U.S. lawmakers who are challenging a program that allows local police departments to enforce federal immigration laws.

"It's a witch hunt," Arpaio said in an interview with ABC15. "These lawmakers don't even know where Arizona is."

The House Judiciary Committee held a pair of subcommittee hearings Thursday morning to discuss the "287(g)" program.

The program run by Immigration Customs and Enforcement was created in 1996.

It gives local police the power to enforce federal immigration laws by training officers how to process, identify and detain undocumented immigrants.

The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office is the programs nation's largest participant in the nation.

Across the country, only 60 departments train officers under it -- with a total of 800 officers.

MCSO has 160 trained staff.

The sheriff's direct and public immigration policy along with his controversial crime suppression sweeps placed him at the center of the hearings.

"Some sheriffs are using racial profiling to further political agendas," said Rep. John Conyer, D - Mich., who heads the judiciary committee and called for the hearings weeks ago.

Arpaio was not invited to the hearings.
But lawmakers brought in several experts to talk about the "287(g)" program.

Of those experts, Mesa police Chief George Gascon testified.
He was asked specifically about the program and Arpaio.
"In some cases, it brings local policing back to the 1950s or 1960s where some minority communities look at police as the enemy," Gascon said.

The federal hearings are the latest push against Arpaio.

Recently, the U.S. Justice Department has also started an investigation against Arpaio and the sheriff's office for civil rights violations.

And just this week, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors also decided to withhold more than $1.5 million fro MCSO in state funds set aside for immigration enforcement.

In an interview Wednesday, Arpaio said he's holding off on commenting about the board's decision.
However, he later called it "blackmail."
At Thursday's hearings, several of the experts called on Congress to change the "287(g)" program.

But Arpaio said that even if the U.S. government repeals the federal law to locally enforce immigration law, he said he'd continue anyway.
"In Arizona, we have the human smuggling law and the employers sanction law," Arpaio said. "So I will not be deterred by these congressmen."

"I'm going to continue, and I'm not going to change anything," he said.

with video, upper Right, 14 comments left

Originally Posted by tiredofapathy

Originally Posted by Judy

""We investigated 147,000 people booked into our jail under 287. And 23,000 murderers all the way down we proved are illegal so they can not get back on the street. That's why crime has gone down in this area," he said."

GO SHERIFF JOE!! We love you, we support you, you are our hero!

Good Grief! I didn't catch that number the first time but doesn't that mean at least 23,000 dead as a result of illegal aliens??? 23,000?????

I know! That's why I highlighted it in my post. That's an amazing number from 1 county in Arizona. If that's not a mis-speak or a typo, then we need to make hay on that figure.