Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio Fires Back Against Fed's

Sheriff Joe Arpaio's boundary-pushing foray into Arizona's immigration enforcement over the last six years met its most bruising criticism when the U.S. Justice Department said the lawman's office carried out a blatant pattern of discrimination against Latinos and held a "systematic disregard" for the Constitution.


Arpaio, defiant and caught by surprise by the report's release on Thursday, called the allegations a politically motivated attack by President Barack Obama's administration that will make Arizona unsafe by keeping undocumented immigrants on the street.


The Obama administration "might as well erect their own pink neon sign at the Arizona-New Mexico border saying welcome illegals to your United States, my home is your home," he said.


The government found that Arpaio's office committed a wide range of civil rights violations against Latinos, including unjust immigration patrols and jail policies that deprive prisoners of basic Constitutional rights. "We found discriminatory policing that was deeply rooted in the culture of the department, a culture that breeds a systematic disregard for basic constitutional protections," said Thomas Perez, who heads the Justice Department's civil rights division.


The report will be used by the Justice Department to seek major changes at Arpaio's office, such as new policies against discrimination and improvements of staff and officers. Arpaio faces a Jan. 4 deadline for saying whether he wants to work out an agreement to make the changes. If not, the federal government will sue him, possibly putting in jeopardy millions of dollars in federal funding for Maricopa County.


At a news conference, Arpaio says the government's move will result in releases from jail of illegal immigrants who had previous been arrested for crimes.
They called it a Pearl Harbor-style sneak attack, nothing but a phony show of political pandering by the Obama administration, pointing to the lack of specifics in the 22-page report.
"President Obama and the band of his merry men might as well erect their own pink neon sign at the Arizona-Mexico border saying 'Welcome all illegals to your United States, our home is your home,'" said Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
He vows he will never resign, and is committed to running his department. He did acknowledge that there may have been some individual cases where deputies didn't do things by the book, and that he would look at those cases individually -- and rejected the sweeping generalizations made in the report.
The government found that Arpaio's office committed a wide range of civil rights violations against Latinos, including unjust immigration patrols and jail policies that deprive prisoners of basic Constitutional rights. They interviewed 400 people -- inculding 75 current and former employees of MCSO -- and Sheriff Arpaio himself.
"I do have compassion, but I'll tell you one thing. Enforcing the law overrides my compassion," Arpaio said.
The Justice Department wants the office to change its ways or risk losing federal money.
Arpaio has 60 days to implement changes, and then there will be a review. If progress has not been made by then, legal action could be taken.
Also Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security cut ties with MCSO because of the report, ending an agreement that allowed trained sheriff's deputies to enforce immigration law, and restricting the sheriff's ability to screen for inmates immigration status while they are in his jails.