Joe Arpaio should be arrested, charged, indicted
Sheriff Joe Arpaio should be arrested by the Feds as soon as possible. He should be handcuffed, photographed, finger-printed and given an orange-suited perp walk. The Feds should charge him with violating Federal law, and seek an indictment as soon as possible. The Mayor of Phoenix and the Governor of Arizona should be publicly visited by the FBI and investigated as co-conspirators to violate Federal law with Arpaio.
The Associated Press reported yesterday that Arpaio illegally launched a crime and immigration sweep of northwest Phoenix just one half day after the Federal goverment limited his powers to make Federal immigration arrests. The government must respond. Arpaio's violations of human decency, his policy of widespread intimidation of the entire Hispanic community, his prisons with abusive, humiliating, and cruel conditions for all prisoners(even for those with the most minor offenses), each of these facts has all been thoroughly documented over the years. Arpaio is proud of his abusive behavior. That his "sweeps" do yield some illegal immigrants is a minor accomplishment relative to the number of American citizens that he brings in on charges like loitering or resisting arrest for no real defensible reason other than ethnic harrassment.
A majority of voters continue to elect Arpaio and that seems to be the rationale for everything in the eyes of many. The people of Arkansas elected Ross Barnett but that did not keep President Eisenhower from sending in Federal troops to enforce the law. That was a courageous act on that President's part, far more than anything that the Kennedy brothers did with their tepid and eventually non-existent support of the Freedom Riders and their support of the FBI efforts to link civil rights efforts to Communist influences at the same time that they smiled and took credit for standing up for what was right. President Obama's unfortunate choice of now former Arizona governor Janet Napolitano as Head of Homeland Security complicates all efforts. Despite her generally respected credentials, she spent six years as governor compromising with and some would say enabling Arpaio, actions which some say contributed to her convincing margin of victory in 2006 relative to her squeaker in 2002.
Arpaio should be dealt with swiftly. Take your pick: violating a just issued Federal ruling; a broad based pattern of racial profiling and intimidation as protected against by the Civil Rights Act; or violation of the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution's ban on "cruel and unusual punishment". He is breaking the laws of our land. Maricopa County, Arizona cannot be allowed to act as if it has seceded and is beyond the reach of Federal law.
Writing the obvious here will not make anything happen and it is wishful thinking to even hope that the Obama administration would enforce the law in the state of John McCain and their Homeland Security choice. That said, now is the perfect time to act, as in tomorrow, to stomp on Arpaio's open defiance when it is legally and even politically indefensible. He has crossed a line. He is not just an unattractive bully. He is committing crimes.
The Associated Press reported yesterday that Arpaio illegally launched a crime and immigration sweep of northwest Phoenix just one half day after the Federal goverment limited his powers to make Federal immigration arrests. The government must respond. Arpaio's violations of human decency, his policy of widespread intimidation of the entire Hispanic community, his prisons with abusive, humiliating, and cruel conditions for all prisoners(even for those with the most minor offenses), each of these facts has all been thoroughly documented over the years. Arpaio is proud of his abusive behavior. That his "sweeps" do yield some illegal immigrants is a minor accomplishment relative to the number of American citizens that he brings in on charges like loitering or resisting arrest for no real defensible reason other than ethnic harrassment.
A majority of voters continue to elect Arpaio and that seems to be the rationale for everything in the eyes of many. The people of Arkansas elected Ross Barnett but that did not keep President Eisenhower from sending in Federal troops to enforce the law. That was a courageous act on that President's part, far more than anything that the Kennedy brothers did with their tepid and eventually non-existent support of the Freedom Riders and their support of the FBI efforts to link civil rights efforts to Communist influences at the same time that they smiled and took credit for standing up for what was right. President Obama's unfortunate choice of now former Arizona governor Janet Napolitano as Head of Homeland Security complicates all efforts. Despite her generally respected credentials, she spent six years as governor compromising with and some would say enabling Arpaio, actions which some say contributed to her convincing margin of victory in 2006 relative to her squeaker in 2002.
Arpaio should be dealt with swiftly. Take your pick: violating a just issued Federal ruling; a broad based pattern of racial profiling and intimidation as protected against by the Civil Rights Act; or violation of the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution's ban on "cruel and unusual punishment". He is breaking the laws of our land. Maricopa County, Arizona cannot be allowed to act as if it has seceded and is beyond the reach of Federal law.
Writing the obvious here will not make anything happen and it is wishful thinking to even hope that the Obama administration would enforce the law in the state of John McCain and their Homeland Security choice. That said, now is the perfect time to act, as in tomorrow, to stomp on Arpaio's open defiance when it is legally and even politically indefensible. He has crossed a line. He is not just an unattractive bully. He is committing crimes.
posted by John Borden at 6:29 PM
2 Comments:
This article might make Joe's goons knock on your door though.
Glad you had the courage :)
Is this comment a compliment or a threat.
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