Thread: Sheriff's illegal-immigrant offer: up to 2 years on a chain

Sheriff's illegal-immigrant offer: up to 2 years on a chain gang
By John Pomfret and Sonya Geis

The Washington Post



Sheriff Joe Arpaio: chain gangs, tents and bologna sandwiches for illegal immigrants


PHOENIX — Sheriff Joe Arpaio thinks he has found the answer to illegal immigrants in the United States. It's not the National Guard. And it's not a guest-worker program. "Fuhgeddaboudit!" growled Arpaio, his Boston accent unbleached by the desert sun. The sheriff's solution: Lock 'em up.

Since March, Arpaio, a Republican who refers to himself as "America's toughest sheriff," has directed the 3,000 men and women in the nation's third-largest sheriff's department to arrest undocumented workers. As of Thursday, his deputies and a posse of several hundred volunteers had captured 170 in a region where an estimated one in every 10 workers is illegal.

"My message to the illegals is this: Stay out of Maricopa County, because I'm the sheriff here," Arpaio said from his office in Phoenix.

Arpaio decided to go after illegal immigrants in the county of 3.6 million people after the county attorney issued an interpretation of a new state anti-smuggling law that said illegal immigrants could be arrested if they were party to a deal to smuggle themselves into the United States.

Punishment could be up to two years in jail. The county attorney's legal opinion is being challenged in court.

"If you get caught by immigration, you get a free ride back to Mexico in an air-conditioned bus," Arpaio said. "A free ride? Not in my county. I'm going to put them on chain gangs, in tents and feed them bologna sandwiches."

More people sneak into Arizona from Mexico than any other state. More people die in its deserts. More people commit crimes along its border.

And among many Arizonans, Arpaio's brand of frontier justice provides a quick fix and a clear counterpoint to a federal enforcement campaign that, since 1993, has failed, despite a tripling of Border Patrol agents, to decrease illegal entries along the Mexican border.

Other states' actions

The sheriff's campaign in Maricopa County is among the toughest approaches by state and local law enforcement addressing the 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States.


In the first four months of this year, 43 states introduced 461 bills involving immigration, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, with many concentrated on law enforcement.

Law enforcement is split over whether local police and sheriff's departments should be wading into the immigration issue, said Gene Voegtlin, legislative counsel for the International Association of Chiefs of Police, in Alexandria, Va.

Some departments follow Arpaio's philosophy. Others, such as police departments in Washington, D.C.; Baltimore; and Los Angeles, generally prohibit officers from asking about immigration or enforcing immigration laws.

Los Angeles Assistant Police Chief George Gascon said local and state law-enforcement officers should avoid becoming agents of the federal immigration system because police depend on many kinds of people, including illegal immigrants, to solve crimes. If illegal immigrants fear police will deport them, they will not come forward with tips and will not testify in court, he said.

"You will find that most of the people who are professional law-enforcement officers who are not necessarily engaged in the electoral process understand the value of these types of policies," Gascon said.

Training agreement

Despite those concerns, since 2002 states have been able to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Homeland Security that allows training of local police to enforce immigration laws, including starting the deportation process for any illegal immigrants encountered during officers' normal activities, such as traffic stops.

Florida was the first to train local officers, followed by Alabama, where state troopers check the immigration status of everyone they stop. Voegtlin said Florida's state troopers began a public-relations campaign to explain their plans to local immigrant communities.

In April, Georgia's Gov. Sonny Perdue, a Republican, signed an immigration bill that made Georgia the first state to require municipalities to require immigration-enforcement training for police.

Police must check the immigration status of anyone arrested on a felony or drunken driving. The law also fines employers who hire illegal immigrants. Fourteen other states are working on laws such as Georgia's that would require local police training.

Arpaio's way

Arpaio's approach has struck a chord among those who want to curtail illegal immigration in Arizona.

A former D.C. police officer and federal narcotics agent, Arpaio first ran for sheriff in 1992 and has garnered attention for constructing a tent-city jail housing 2,000 inmates in the desert, forcing prisoners to wear pink underwear and creating what he says is the world's only female chain gang.

He has been re-elected three times by substantial margins, and his campaign against illegal immigrants has garnered him reams of e-mail from fans.

Arpaio said he is eager to see the lawsuit challenging his enforcement program "go all the way to the Supreme Court." "I'm going to keep locking them up," he said. "This wasn't no one-day pony show."

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/n ... iff21.html

I really, really like this Sheriff. Which there were a whole country of him. I am against cloning but.....

I emailed him a while back and told him to keep up the good work, even though I am in Florida.

At-A-Boys are not something Law Enforcement get a lot because of the nature of the job so I am sure he appreciated it even from another state.

I emailed him as well, if we had more of his type of law enforcement in this country we would not be in the state we are in.

Sheriff Joe Apairo has 3000 members of his posse ready to help the sworn duputys, they supply there own , jeeps, horses,planes, and cars most
painted and equiped the same as the sworn Maricopa County paid duputys.

Nothing new for Sheriff Joe Apairo. He was tough before getting tough was in vogue. He always means what he says. Now how can we transplant some of his backbone to El Presidente Bush?

I'm e-mailing that article with the title "Think Nationally - Act Locally" to EVERY Sheriff in Georgia.

Sir:

There's GOT to be some kind of law on OUR books that would allow you to emulate Sheriff Joe. If our Federal government refuses to uphold it's Constitutional duty by their refusal to enforce immigration law, identity theft and the like, it falls incumbent to the State to uphold that duty.

Senator Chip Rogers introduced SB 529, Georgia's first valiant effort to "do the job our Federal Government won't do", to the OVERWHELMING support of 85% of our citizens. Governor Perdue signed it last month. The will of the people is clear.

I urge you to do everything in your power to enforce ALL laws pertaining to illegal aliens, and to inform your citizens of the REAL dangers they face at the hands of illegal aliens.

If you do not understand the dangers yourself, I urge you to call Sheriff Joe Arpaio at (602)876-1000 or the Texas Border Sheriff's Association, Sheriff Leo Samaniego at (915)546-2217. These outmanned and outgunned men are on the FRONT LINES of this invasion, and will be happy to speak with you. I've already called to check for you.

Sincerely,
Jeff Hermann