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PHOENIX, Arizona: He’s been described as Hitler and a Klu Klux
Klansman by Hispanic critics and immigrant rights groups, but
Sheriff Joe Arpaio prefers to see himself as an equal opportunities
advocate.
“We lock everybody up,” he says.
Arpaio, the self-styled “toughest sheriff in
America,” has ruled his fifedom in Arizona’s Maricopa County
with a steely zero-tolerance that has enraged human rights activists
but delighted headline writers the world over.
Demonstrations and picket lines follow his
sweeps of largely Hispanic neighborhoods. He’s been criticized by
mayors and the governor of Arizona.
On a recent Mexican holiday, one group batted
around a Joe Arpaio piñata, an effigy filled with sweets that
children attempt to split open with a stick.
The opprobrium heaped in Arpaio’s direction is
water off a duck’s back: after 16 years in office, the veteran
lawman is showing no signs of mellowing.
“It just makes me more vigilant and go out
more,” Arpaio told Agence France-Presse in an interview. “They
ought to shut their mouth, let the system take its course, and if
they don’t like the laws, go out and get them changed.
“But don’t try to intimidate me to stop
enforcing the laws. It will never happen. That’s how I take care
of business.”
During nearly two decades, Arpaio has garnered
worldwide publicity for creating a tent city in the Arizona desert
to house county jail inmates, sending out men and women in chain
gangs to pick up trash, and clothing inmates in striped suits and
pink underwear.
He even offered to accommodate Paris Hilton in
one of Maricopa County’s jails when the celebrity socialite was
sentenced to prison in Los Angeles last year for driving offences.
His latest crackdown against illegal immigrants
began about 18 months ago.
He has nothing against Mexicans or immigrants,
he says, pointing out that his parents came, legally, from Italy
were Italian immigrants.
For Arpaio, illegal immigration is a fairness
issue. Why should some people wait years for citizenship through the
proper channels while others slip across the border?
“The minute you crossed the border, you
violated the law,” Arpaio said.
“There’s no doubt that illegals are involved
in drug trafficking and other crimes. Many of them, maybe the
majority, come here to work.
“Still, it’s illegal to come here. I’m
going to continue to enforce the law. I took an oath of office.
I’m the bad guy. That’s okay. It’s alright with me.”
Arpaio’s last sweep sent 200 deputies,
helicopters and an armored car into a one-square-mile
(half-a-kilometer) Latino-dominated town, pulling over anyone with a
cracked tail-light or a broken windshield.
He rejects claims that his department is
targeting anyone with brown skin.
“We don’t racial-profile,” he said. “We
lock everybody up. I’m an equal opportunity guy.”
About 16 percent of the 77,000 inmates booked
into county jail this year were illegal immigrants.
Arpaio believes that by keeping pressure on
illegal immigrants, he can drive them from Arizona.
“They’re heading south, or they’re going
to California, but they’re sure getting out of Arizona,” he
said.
“If you can get them out of Arizona, you can
get them out of the United States of America little by little. I’m
not saying line up the buses, but put the pressure on them.
“Little by little they’re going to leave
because it’s going to be hard to find a job and they’re going to
go to jail.”
Workers’ and immigrants’ rights groups say
Arpaio’s policies have created a climate of fear.
Elias Bermudez heads Immigrants Without Borders,
an immigrants’ rights advocacy group. Arpaio’s policies are
discriminatory and “not conducive to a county that is 30 percent
Hispanic,” he said.
“He has abused his authority and his elected
position to create havoc and a feeling of terror in our
community,” Bermudez said.
“He has capitalized on the fear and
vulnerability of people who came into this country without
documents, not in defiance of the laws of the United States, but
because this country does not have a legal mechanism to seek work
with documents.
“This is a problem of developed nations
against undeveloped nations, and it is a problem that needs
solving.”
Arpaio says his sweeps will continue as long as
he is sheriff.
His public support—80 to 90 percent approval
ratings in polls—make it unlikely he will lose a campaign for
re-election later this year.
“I get more press in one day than the governor
gets,” he said. “If you go anywhere in the world, all you have
to do is say ‘Arizona,’ and they say ‘Sheriff Joe.’
“Do you think they know who the governor is?
I’m the toughest sheriff in America.
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