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Feds Sue Ariz. Sheriff Arpaio, Call His Defiance 'Unprecedented'
PHOENIX - The U.S. Justice Department sued Sheriff Joe Arpaio on Thursday, saying the Arizona lawman refused for more than a year to turn over records in an investigation into allegations his department discriminates against Hispanics.
The U.S. Justice Department sued Sheriff Joe Arpaio on Thursday, saying the Arizona lawman refused for more than a year to turn over records in an investigation into allegations his department discriminates against Hispanics.
(AFP/Getty Images/File/Sandy Huffaker) The lawsuit calls Arpaio and his office's defiance "unprecedented," and said the federal government has been trying since March 2009 to get officials to comply with its probe of alleged discrimination, unconstitutional searches and seizures, and having English-only policies in his jails that discriminates against people with limited English skills.
Arpaio had been given until Aug. 17 to hand over documents it first asked for 15 months ago.
Arpaio's office had said it has fully cooperated in the jail inquiry but won't hand over additional documents into the examination of the alleged unconstitutional searches because federal authorities haven't said exactly what they were investigating.
It's the latest action against Arizona by the federal government, which earlier sued to stop the state's strict new immigration law that requires police officers to question people about their immigration status.
"The actions of the sheriff's office are unprecedented," said Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for the department's civil rights division. "It is unfortunate that the department was forced to resort to litigation to gain access to public documents and facilities."
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Phoenix and names Arpaio, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office and the county.
Arizona's new law - most of which a federal judge has put on hold - mirrors many of the policies Arpaio has put into place in the greater Phoenix area, where he set up a hot line for the public to report immigration violations, conducts crime and immigration sweeps in heavily Latino neighborhoods and frequently raids workplaces for people in the U.S. illegally.
Arpaio believes the inquiry is focused on his immigration sweeps, patrols where deputies flood an area of a city - in some cases heavily Latino areas - to seek out traffic violators and arrest other offenders.
Critics say his deputies pull people over for minor traffic infractions because of the color of their skin so they can ask them for their proof of citizenship.
Arpaio denies allegations of racial profiling, saying people are stopped if deputies have probable cause to believe they've committed crimes and that it's only afterward that deputies find many of them are illegal immigrants.
The sheriff's office has said half of the 1,032 people arrested in the sweeps have been illegal immigrants.
Last year, the federal government stripped Arpaio of his special power to enforce federal immigration law. The sheriff continued his sweeps through the enforcement of state immigration laws.
Last year, the nearly $113 million that the county received from the federal government accounted for about 5 percent of the county's $2 billion budget. Arpaio's office said it receives $3 million to $4 million each year in federal funds.
In a separate investigation, a federal grand jury in Phoenix is examining allegations that Arpaio has abused his powers with actions such as intimidating county workers by showing up at their homes at nights and on weekends.
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40 Comments so far
Show AllScArpaioface.
Simple solution to this and many of the other overwhelming problems this country (and world) face, including out of control corporations like oil, gas, coal, financial, MIC, agriculture (Monsanto) and big pharma, etc.) .......JAIL CEO'S .
Repeat it again and again, use it on bumper stickers, mention these two little words whenever articles or discussions are used. In short get it in the consciousness of the public that there is not two sets of laws in this country (and the greater world) one for the common everyman and one for the elites who are beyond all laws. It will help create the possibility that their is justice (including real punishments like jail) for all. Lady justice must put back her blindfold to make all accountable to the laws.
Repeat: "JAIL CEO'S."
A litany of losers walked this path dry before Joe Bob was born.
Love the area, hate the politics........jail the motherfucker..
I feel the same way. Arizona is beautiful, but it is being destroyed by the crazies, and the blue hairs eat up all the fear driven shit. My husband and I took our kids and moved out of Arizona because of it.
I hate Arpaio, but the Federal Govt is so unpopular right now that their confrontations with him are actually improving his popular and political support.
The may need rethink their position and pick their battles more wisely.
"The may need rethink their position and pick their battles more wisely."
That sounds so progressive, "We could take him on buuuuuuuuuuuut that might earn him more of the racist white vote. So I guess I'm gonna chill at home and watch the Knicks."
And it's a suprise progressives are going nowhere? We won't even pick a battle much less pick one wisely.
There's a whole lot of other shit the Feds could be working on, as opposed to this particular issue.
The political reality is that a majority of Americans (and certainly a majority of voters in Arpaio's area) support the type of anti-illegal immigrant behavior and tough-guy bullshit that this guy is known for. For the Federal Govt (specifically the Obama Admin) to squander actual and political capital in a fight against this idiot is a mistake.
We need them to be working on problems that most people actually see as problems, not making martyrs out of jerks like Arpaio.
But then, that assumes that Obama isn't just Bush 2.0 and wants what's best for the country. Not a safe assumption.
Believe me I agree with your opinion on this issue but I get so fed up with progressives lifting no more of a finger than to blame Obama for everything.
Obama is as much, if not more, a miserable failure than Dubya but all this pontificating about him isn't making a whit of difference.
You will not hold the Dems "feet to the fire" nor can we make them "see the light".
I voted Dem in '08 but now will stick with 3rd parties. But while we're bitching about how Obama threw us under the bus, the right is getting their side out. How do we go about getting preaching to more than the proverbial choir?
Lol... I first heard of the sherrif when a no knock raid he sent his stormtroopers on went bad. They set a house on fire and an APC they got from the feds(army surplus) rolled down a hill and smashed a car! He is a corrupt blowbag but knows the power of propaganda. His stance of immigration keeps him popular.... Inspite of his other misadventures. The feds aren't stupid. They know this is a public relations disaster for them. I bet they get him though. He is challenging their power. If he gets away with it others will follow and it will get worse for the feds if they can't control the locals anymore. States are rediscovering their 10th amendment rights and the feds aren't happy. California is on the verge of legalizing pot. I'm all for it myself. Anything to lessen the power of the genocidal killers in DC. The Sheriff's crimes are jaywalking compared to what the feds have wrought in the middle east, central america, mexico, etc.
It is about time they stop Arpaio. I don't think they would have taken it on if they didn't KNOW they could get him.
People are dying because of Arpaio and his wicked Gomer Piles. Phoenix New Times has been exposing him for years. The example above is just one of many. That happened in Ahwatukee where I used to reside. They also burned a dog a live in that instance.
I think you should do some research on Arpaio. He has even called his tents a concentration camp.
I got a very well deserved DUI in AZ, (years ago) I got the pleasure of staying in Arpaio's tents ... I don't think people really understand what is happening there. The women's LOW SECURITY tents were place right next to the jails high security offenders who looked right onto our yard. You can just imagine some of the things these men did, for all of the ladies to witness ... It was definitely abusive. I was in in July, with temperatures exceeding 110 degrees with no water on the yard for 5 and 6 hours at a time. They serve food that expired years previous. It really is unimaginable to most and was a real eye opener for me.
This is adversely affecting so many. He has got to be stopped.
The man - I use the term loosely - is a Menace to Civilized Society. But, the good Citizens of Phoenix and Maricopa County keep on voting for him. Seems like they are a menace, too.
Maybe you can start to understand why I want a law passed banning all cults from the state.
and by state I mean the whole state: the police, the security services, parliment, judges the NHS, the state!
Will a Law pass banning cults from the state? NO! Why because all the cult members in the government and outside it will work to stop that happening- They care nothing for socitey they are out for them selves and their power!
'Fuck the people' seems to be there motto!
A cult member will alway serve their cult first, therefore it is undemocratic to allow them into government
Maybe you can start to understand why I want a law passed banning all cults from the state.
and by state I mean the whole state: the police, the security services, parliment, judges the NHS, the state!
Will a Law pass banning cults from the state? NO! Why because all the cult members in the government and outside it will work to stop that happening- They care nothing for socitey they are out for them selves and their power!
'Fuck the people' seems to be there motto!
A cult member will alway serve their cult first, therefore it is undemocratic to allow them into government
For all the hate mongering, the truth is quite self evident here. Obama is simply playing politics.
Its a shame when the government can't seem to discover the actual will of the people and in fact conspires to defeat it. The price for this dishonesty will be paid in November.
Fools are playing right into the hands of the republicans.
Sounds interesting but please summarize the points that you find relevant to the original CD article from the mainstream Yahoo article rather than repost the whole Yahoo article. We already get bombarded enough by the MSM message machine... we don't need it here in the comments too. Thanks.
Yes, and we also get bombarded by comments from the open-border/pro-immigration shills and operatives here on CD.
Immigration articles are a hit machine for CD.
People - Enough of this knee-jerk nonsense. ILLEGAL means ILLEGAL. Corporations love ILLEGAL migrants (they aren't "immigrants")because they are VERY CHEAP LABOR.
That's the whole point of allowing millions of ILLEGAL migrants to stay in this country - - for cheap labor.
If people want to emigrate to this country. let them play by the rules our relatives had to do to get in the country, learn the language in 5 years, be good citizens for 5 years and then apply for citizenship.
What's wrong with you people that you refuse to see this?
I live in an area over-run with cheap foreign labor including many ILLEGAL migrants. Jobs that used to belong to local people are now held - until they get caught - by people who entered this country ILLEGALLY.
This is why so many Americans are opposed to allowing corporations to bring in these ILLEGAL migrants - - because millions of local Americans have lost their jobs to this cheap labor.
It's not prejudice, as many foreigners - all legal, one hopes - have settled here and live peacably with the rest of us (although several of their more prominent members got caught beinging in more ILLEGAL migrants and are now in jail.)
It's the economy, Stupid! It's the corporations' endless quest for evermore profit,and cheap foreign labor is part of their goal to drive down everyone's wages by using half-starved people to drive down everyone's wages forever.
Goldman-Sachs et al know exactly what they're doing. While I might not like everything this sheriff does, I do respect the work on trying to root out ILLEGAL migrants and send them home.
That's what's done here on the Northern border - why should it be different down there?
Americans are not basically stupid - they know that importing about 12 million ILLEGAL migrants, in addition to the millions and millions of legal migrants to take our jobs is not a good thing for people already living here in America.
People lose their jobs, then their homes, and we all know that the many millions of cheap foreign laborers have those jobs now, and are getting at most 1/4 what the local people got paid.
This is why people are giving to the sheriff. I haven't and won't, but I understand it. And you should, too.
You're right on the money. Here where I live the ag work used to be a couple full time people and then all the High School kids working in the evenings and weekends. It didn't pay much but 60-70% of the people my age got their first jobs there and their first cars from the money.
None of that work any more. None.
You look at a crew building a house these days? That was OK work for someone that had good hands and maybe didn't do so well in school. That is all gone and being done for lower wages. Where does that extra money go? Houses aren't cheaper to build... Answer? The developers and the middlemen.
Here there are no fast food jobs for kids because there are illegal immigrants here that need that work to survive.
I married a foreigner. We went through paperwork hell to get her here. We did it legally. I don't see any reason at all to subsidize industry and agriculture by letting illegal aliens in to take the bottom rung of the job ladder.
Arpaio is a bastard, but I understand why people support him.
Immigration before the welfare state was a good thing. It attracted self reliant, courageous people seeking freedom. Welfare state immigration attracts a lot more opportunistic sloth looking for accomodation. Not all, of course, but certainly more than enough to make the insanity of our present policies perfectly obvious.
America was a better nation when people were expected to carry their own weight - when it was shameful to have others carry your load for you.
I agree, but what about the illegal employer problem?
Joe had a relatively close election last time, considering he's been handily elected in the past. Brewer was behind Goddard in the polls. But now, both he and Brewer have benefited greatly in the polls for their support of SB1070. Ironic that the state with recent publicity for a "Don't Tread on Me" flag has officials riding high for treading on others.
Many immigrants were leaving anyway because construction has slowed down so much so this is as much a chance to up their numbers as anything else. Former governor Napolitano focused on trying to make it harder to hire undocumented workers but it's much more fun and better for business to vent rage against the workers who wouldn't be here in the first place if there weren't employers who depend or at least profit from their low labor cost and inability to file workman's comp.
finger pointing http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/chris_hedges_on_moral_courage_20100901/
One way or other, we'll find a way to lock up this dirtbag. I'm pretty sure he has plenty of skeletons in his closet; and I'm sure his private life is being investigated.
We should start by accusing him of sexual harassment at work. That should cost him almost half of his votes...
This is actually very smart politics. The voter intensity among Hispanic voters in the face of no comprehensive immigration reform by the WH and Dems has been shrinking hourly. The Spanish language media has been mercilessly hammering this point for months. This suit against the number one bad guy (certainly one of the top 3) is not only good judicially, it is smart politics to do right now.
What's with all this suing by the Feds in Arizona? Where I'm from they just walk in and take what they want. If not ask the people at Waco.
If this guy fails the USA will have no chance to eject the illegal workers from this nation.
All those who do not support the laws on legal immigration, and reject the programs of the business elite are supporting their own economic enslavement.
Those illegals are hostile invaders.
Perhaps when the US stops its illegal invasions of multiple countries in order to illegally install puppet governments that illegally enslave their populations just so the US ruling class can illegally enrich itself, I'll start listening to your racist bullshit.
In the meantime, I encourage all "illegals" to move here and, to borrow from Jane Fonda's line from 9 to 5, you're a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot.
Arpaio should have been indicted years ago for his complete disregard of inmates rights in Maricopa County. Remember his press tours of the overcrowded tents in 125 F heat? He brags about spending more pennies feeding the police dogs than the inmates! How does he get elected? It is simple. Retired, wealthy and very paranoid white people want their gated communities kept safe! The gates are opened at 6am and 6pm for the shift change of underpaid immigrant maids,gardeners and other laborers. Those immigrants can't complain, much less vote.The few progressives that accidentally land in Phoenix usually last a few years, then they move to Tuscon!
I completely agree!
You don't look well Joe. Hope you are not coming down with amoebic dysentery or a brain tumor. Maybe your prostate is not what it used to be.
Hope Arpaio has to serve time, wearing pink underwear, sleeping in a tent outside when it's over 100 degrees-- just like he makes his prisoners do.
I think if I lived there, I'd try floating a local ordinance which required the Sheriff's dept (including the actual Sheriff) and Corrections officers to wear pink Uniforms to work, including pink underwear.
Might be a good idea to force them to feed the employees out of the same cafeteria that feeds the prisoners.
I would gladly contribute to his defense fund.
This waste of human DNA Arpaio deserves solitary confinement for the rest of his unworthy racist life.
Let me remind you, Arpaio, that your piece of worm ancestors stole the land that Arizona now occupies from Mexico in the illegal Mexican War of 1846 and the illegal Gadsden Purchase of 1853.
Before that, the land you call Arizona belonged to the natives that your European ancestors mass-murdered.
But forget your ancestors' crimes, for your crimes alone, you're an embarrassment to the human species and deserve to be incarcerated.
Not looking the cocksure 'happy camper' these days, is he?
"conducts crime and immigration sweeps in heavily Latino neighborhoods ". There aren't any heavily Chinese, Korean, Armenian, etc... neighborhoods in Arizona. AZ has mixed, white, black, and brown neighborhoods. They should be doing sweeps of all neighborhoods. The majority of illegal aliens in Arizona come from Canada, Mexico, and Latin America. The removal of illegal aliens in America should not be raced based. It should be based on whether you are in the US legally or illegally. Violaters of the law should not be rewarded with amnesty.
A documented worker program, with real wages for the workers is what is needed. Employers paying substandard wages and benefits must be prosecuted. Real jail time for business owners found not to be in compliance. A fine to a large corporation is only a cost of doing business, that must be made up by the consumer. Jail would be real for the president of a company. US immigration policies have been enforced through the 20th and 21st centuries, but have also been ignored by some in the business community.
I don't care for Sherrif Joe myself, but the federal government just pushed him out into the national limelight. He could easily be seen as a hero nationwide, by some. He should of been minimalized and trivialized. He lives for the attention. He has been interviewed by many magazines, cable news, and newspapers. "Nickel Bag Joe" rides again.