“I’m going to catch as many as I can and throw them in my jail,” said Sheriff Joe Arpaio. “And the jails are not that nice.”
Sheriff Joe Arpaio is right. His jails primarily suck. And that’s on a good day. Check it out: when he ran out of brick and mortar buildings for inmates, he created tent cities in the Arizona desert. Allow me to consult my thermometer right now: oh yes; about 118 degrees in the shade. Perfect for inmates or boiling lobster tails.
Before I go further, to get a good sense of who he is, I refer you to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department website, some truths about Sheriff Joe, and what Wikipedia has to say about the good Sheriff.
People either love or hate Sheriff Joe. Many hate him. He has been sued. He has received numerous death threats. Still he has survived. Some say that he is the most recognized and revered politician in the entire state of Arizona. At age 74, not a bad testimony — considering Arizona is rife with True Politicians as is any other given state. In my opinion Sheriff Joe is the last of a breed.
Hell, I should have made him a Today’s Hero months ago.
Silly me.
Also: silly me for not checking Arpaio’s influence on the illegal immigrant issue because Arizona is, of course, on the cutting edge of illegal immigration as it borders the Mexican state of Sonora and the Mexican cities of Nogales and Agua Prieta.
Beginning Wednesday, more illegal immigrants coming through Maricopa County could meet the same fate as the sheriff’s department beefs up its efforts to find illegal immigrants.
A 250-member posse that will operate similarly to the anti-smuggler task force will patrol the area for illegal immigrants who pay smugglers to cross through Arizona, the busiest illegal entry point along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border.
The posse will be made up of existing sheriff’s deputies and members of the department’s 3,000-member posse reserve of trained, unpaid volunteers.
A recent Arizona state law makes human smuggling a crime — it was already a federal crime — (though largely unenforced by those who have the power to do so!) allowing local law enforcement agencies to arrest suspected smugglers.
And so in steps another player: Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas. He believes the law can be applied to the smuggled immigrants themselves, thinking that illegal immigrants who pay smugglers to enter the United States are committing conspiracy to smuggle and can therefore be prosecuted under the state law.
Sounds to me like the continual controversy of “spirit of the law” vs. the “letter of the law.”
Which philosophy do you think should win? And on whose side should the law lean?
Naturally, attorneys for some of the arrested illegal immigrants have filed motions to have the charges dismissed. One LA lawyer brought into the case by the Mexican Consul General’s Office in Phoenix (big clue there) filed another motion claiming Thomas and Arpaio are violating state and federal law and are using the conspiracy charges to control illegal immigration, which, they allege, is the federal government’s job.
Easily countered: the federal government ISN’T DOING ITS JOB. Period.
Again, from the AP story:
Arpaio said the motions don’t worry him.
“I get sued when I go to the toilet. You think I’m worried about it?” he said. “If they think I’m going to slow down because of these threats, I’ve got news for them – I’m not going to slow down. I’ll do more of it.”
Balls. Pure and simple.
So few of them left in this country.
Huh, George?
BZ
Sheriff Joe Arpaio Takes The Stand We Knew He Would — Exhibiting More Balls Than Our Elected President
—————————-
LMAO… That’s gonna piss a couple of people off… 🙂
Sheriff Joe is The Man. If it pisses a few people off then, well, I say, so fucking be it.
T. Fred: I’ll bet you and I both agree: it’s Put Up or Shut Up time for local, state and federal governments.
BZ
Been that way for a while but getting the hypocritical and the mindless to actually DO it is a daunting task…
And now, you’re really gonna piss em off, yo said FUCK… LMAO…
awesome post bz.
This guy is my hero!
Yeah, and every election he gets re-elected by enough good people residing in Maricopa county. I think at this point in history, get tough Sheriffs would win in most areas of the country if we could find some willing to run. Of course they’d not have a chance in a few of the liberal strongholds.
Sheriff Joe has long been one of my heros
If the People of the State takes this to its next reasonable step they could find it easy to make a Citizen force to handle things when the Federal Government just can’t respond. Why that would just be ensuring that the State and its People assert their rights to have autonomy within the United States. For the first protectors of the Right of the State to ensure itself during times of invasion or Danger is an Armed Citizenry deciding to take up that responsibility when the Federal Government just isn’t looking out for them.
The Good Sheriff is, indeed, pointing the way to something entirely new beyond *mere* law enforcement.
AJ: He is indeed. And did you notice one thing in the article? Sheriff Joe has a RESERVE force of 3,000 VOLUNTEERS for his department — to me, that speaks VOLUMES about his leadership and people’s willingness to follow his lead and volunteer for an organization they believe in and in which they have faith and confidence.
BZ
Gawfer: Also, welcome aboard! Please visit again. I checked out your blog, very nicely done and excellent posts — particularly about Southern California and the school with many immigrants and the TRUE cost of immigration!
BZ
I wonder if he can hang on for 4 years in the whitehouse?
I’m going to write him in if someone doesn’t man up from one of our “Political parties”
Put your spoon away Fred.
I’m listening to the interview while I’m typing. Sheriff Joe is awesome.
I just posted on this awesome guy as well.
bigwhitehat said…
Put your spoon away Fred.
——————————-
Huh??
Texasfred, you are from texas so you should know what BWH was saying.. i don’t- but I expected you too..:-)
when you find out, fill me in..
Blo, I love this guy and I would love to have someone like him in the White house. I am sick of all this political blo-hard stuff.. When you think about the liberals and how they are leaking intel about NSA it makes me want to puke thinking they could take over the senate because of the foolish spineless republicans.
Revka: we’d all like to see him on Front Street, but SJA can get away with things that other “mainstream” politicians cannot simply because of that factor — he is not mainstream. He would, in Real Life, offend too many people.
That does not lessen his effectiveness or his dedication. It merely addresses reality as it is today.
Hmmm. That has given me an idea for another post. . .
BZ