Thread: United Farm Workers on Campaign against Arpaio

Don’t let America’s Toughest Sheriff Break the Law. Sign the Petition Today.

Help us make sure "America's Toughest Sheriff" does not get a free pass on his controversial tactics. It's been reported that Sheriff Joe Arpaio has engaged in racial profiling and civil rights abuses for years with impunity. We need your help to end the abuse. The UFW is working with America’s Voice and other immigration groups to get 10,000 signatures on a petition by March 7.The case against the publicity-hungry Sheriff is well documented and horrifying. Joe Arpaio has made a mockery of our justice system by:

* Relying heavily on racial profiling and double standards: routinely stopping drivers for minor violations and only forcing "Latino-looking" drivers to produce Social Security cards.

* Engaging in sidewalk "crime sweeps" in low-crime communities--detaining those who cannot prove their citizenship status on the spot, while allowing dangerous felons to roam free.

* Promoting horrifying detention conditions that have been condemned by health agencies and human rights organizations.

Arpaio's prisons have been stripped of their health standards accreditation, the Mayor of Phoenix and other law enforcement officials have denounced the Sheriff's tactics, the Governor of Arizona has pulled some of his key funding, and over 2,700 lawsuits have been filed against him. Meanwhile, crime has surged. The Sheriff's office has over 40,000 outstanding warrants for real felons that it simply hasn't had time to tackle.

Just this month, Sheriff Joe rounded up hundreds of immigrant detainees and forced them to march, shackled, through Phoenix to a segregated "tent city" surrounded by electric fencing in the Arizona desert.

Elected officials are subject to our nation's laws. Sheriffs should be held accountable for fighting crime, not rewarded for spreading fear. Racial profiling and segregation are simply not acceptable. We request an immediate Department of Justice investigation into Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his appalling tactics.

Sign the petition today!

http://www.ufwaction.org/campaign/sheriffjoe

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Tuscon Citizen, EDITORIAL, 2/20/09
Our Opinion: Review Arpaio actions, please

The Arizona Latino Legislative Caucus is urging President Obama's administration to review Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's operation - and rightly so.

Concerns about racial profiling and other abuses of people's civil rights have surfaced since Arpaio began raiding Hispanic neighborhoods over the past two years.

His recent decision to segregate illegal immigrants in county jails also raises questions, as all inmates are to be treated under the same standards.

The Departments of Justice and of Homeland Security were asked last week to review the situation, in a request by U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr. and three other House Judiciary Committee Democrats.

We hope a federal review in Maricopa will be forthcoming. The notion that people with brown skin are treated differently is not acceptable in Arizona or anywhere else.


Associated Press: 2/4/09
Ariz. sheriff puts illegal-alien inmates in tents

PHOENIX (AP) — The self-proclaimed "toughest sheriff in America" has announced plans to keep illegal immigrants separate from the rest of the inmate population at tents in Phoenix that house prisoners....Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox said she thinks Arpaio could potentially be violating the immigrants' rights by keeping them separated, and that she'd like to talk to the Justice Department and have staff there issue an opinion.

"Any time you treat people differently for no reason, you stand to violate rights," she said. "We treat people equally in America. I think it's wrong." She said the move is a publicity stunt and that Arpaio has done nothing to show the supervisors how it would save money.

Alessandra Soler Meetze, executive director of the ACLU of Arizona, said..."You're sort of giving the message that it's OK to treat these inmates differently. It's OK to treat them like circus animals," Soler Meetze said. "He didn't have to make a spectacle. He could've moved them on buses."

Click for full article

FAMOUS QUOTATION BY PASTOR MARTIN NIEMÖLLER (1946)

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out --Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out --Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out --Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me.

The problem is that the illegals are not blond hair and blue eyed. I will NOT sign this petition.

The constant whine of the girly men IAs is music to my ears. Joe Arpaio
stands up for the Rule of Law he is right up there with Audie Murphy,
a true All American Hero.

We treat people equally in America

No we don't. Citizens are different than tourists. Criminals are different than law abiding citizens. I'm really sorry if your particular group is getting heat because it's your specific group causing the most problems....that's not my problem, that's yours......and I'm not going to sugar coat it or deny the reality because you don't like it.

Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me.

We're there and they call us racists or whatever else to silence us.