Stop Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Racial Profiling

by Nate Van Duzer 02-18-2009

It was very humiliating to be handcuffed in front of my family’s business, in front of customers and neighbors. It’s not a crime to be Latino or listen to a Spanish-language radio station but you wouldn’t know that by the way Sheriff Joe and his posse treat people

- Manuel Nieto, Jr., a U.S. citizen, who was unlawfully detained by officers of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Manuel Nieto is just one of the many victims of the inhumane tactics of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who presides over Arizona’s Maricopa County (the 4^th largest in the country) and proclaims himself “America’s Toughest Sheriff.” Sheriff Joe’s most recent publicity stunt involved parading 200 immigrant detainees to a new Tent City outdoor detention center. Shackled to each other and dressed in old-fashioned prison stripes, armed deputies marched the detainees past news cameras summoned for the event.

Last April, Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon requested that then U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey launch a Justice Department investigation into “discriminatory harassment, improper stops, searches, and arrests” of Latinos by Sheriff Arpaio. Mayor Gordon also stated that these tactics are putting Phoenix “residents’ well-being, and the well-being of law enforcement officers, at risk.” Last week, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee John Conyers and other prominent members of Congress called for a federal investigation as well.

According to The Arizona Republic, Sheriff Arpaio’s other made-for-TV stunts include immigration sweeps cheered on by gun-toting motorcycle and anti-immigrant “Minuteman” groups that target anyone “guilty of looking Latino.” Sherriff Arpaio has even made the outrageous statement: “I wish that the Phoenix Police Department would arrest everybody, even if they’re not sure [of that person's legal status].”

Not only are Sheriff Joe’s practices of racial profiling discriminatory and unjust, they are downright ineffective. His department is setting a disturbing national trend in which immigration enforcement is focused on “the easiest targets, not the most dangerous fugitives.” As a result, 40,000 felony warrants lay outstanding on Sheriff Joe’s desk, 911 response times have worsened, and his county is a less safe place. Regardless of your understanding of the greater immigration debate, this is simply bad law-enforcement.

The actions of Sheriff Joe Arpaio illustrate the dangerous consequences of a broken immigration system. Since U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement cannot work effectively on its own, it occasionally gives immigration enforcement duties – and federal taxpayer dollars – to local authorities. While some local agencies use this power responsibly, others do not, including disturbing “allegations of entering private homes without warrants or consent and separating children from their caretakers.”

As Christians, we must speak out against the violation of the basic human dignity of our neighbors, whom Jesus has called us to love. Sheriff Joe once said, “Do you think I’m going to report to the federal government? I don’t report to them. If they don’t like the contract, they can close it up.” We at Sojourners think they should, but they should not stop there: A deeper investigation is in order.

Please join us in asking U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and the Department of Justice to launch an investigation into the inhumane policies of Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his deputies.

Nate Van Duzer is the policy assistant for Sojourners.

Categories: Activism, Diversity, Immigration, Race

smokem

Actually, I think I'll send Sheriff Joe a note telling him to keep up the good work.

NMRod

God bless you sir! The Lord Jesus will have an appropriate reward for you.

jonabark

I think you want little green footballs.

david

@ smokem - As a respondent who is from the state of Arizona (Sheriff Joe's County to be exact), who has seen Sheriff Joe's career take shape, I hope that you might actually *look* at Sheriff Joe Arpaio's record before you call his activities "good work." The record shows that it is, in fact, anything but good or honorable work.

Some facts which might merit your concern and review:
1. Mr. Arpaio's jails have lost their National accreditation for their gross negligence with regard to the standards set for Prisons (http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2008-10-09/news/...).

2. In a review by The Goldwater Institute (a conservative think-tank founded in the stead of Sen. Barry Goldwater), Sheriff Arpaio and the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office fell grievously short of achieving their charter, instead building a reputation for "self-promotion" and diverting resources "away from basic law-enforcement functions to highly-publicized immigration sweeps."(http://www.goldwaterinstitute.org/AboutUs/ArticleView.aspx?id=2440)
The report also states that the "MCSO’s detention facilities are subject to costly lawsuits for excessive use of force and inadequate medical services. Compounding the substantive problems are chronically poor record-keeping and reporting of statistics, coupled with resistance to public disclosure."

3. The New York Times has written three editorials about the Sheriff, who they have come to call "America's Worst Sheriff." (http://theboard.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/31/am... , http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/opinion/06fri... , http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/business/medi...).

When all is said and done, Arpaio has cost the people of Arizona over $41 million in court fees for legal battles regarding the brutal abuse of prisoners under his watch and subsequent legal battles regarding wrongful deaths (an article discussing the wrongful deaths: http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2007-12-20/news/...).

Dozens have died under Sheriff Joe - just a new death last fall and another two just this month (http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2008-11-20/news/... , http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/20...). There is currently a class-action lawsuit against Arpaio in the Federal Court in Arizona awaiting judgment.

Mr. Arpaio is an egomaniac, and under his watch Arizona has gone from bad to worse, and to now having one of the highest violent crime rates in the Nation. As these articles point out, Sheriff Joe is part of the problem - NOT the solution.

My father is a sold-out Christian and litigator with over 35 years experience. He and I have watched Sheriff Joe's career and notoriety increase over the past 20 years, and - to quote my father - Sheriff Joe's record has been one of "brutalism, egomania, and inhumane conduct." He is a shame to Arizona and to the penal system of the USA. Shame on Sheriff Joe and any that blindly applaud his actions without looking at what is really going on.

neuro_nurse

Thank you for your articulate and well-referenced response, but with all due respect:

Don't feed the trolls!

Peace

JesusMyPublicDefender

My brother,

Maybe someday you will understand why Jesus, while on the cross before his last breath, offered the "criminal" next to Him a place in heaven.

JoannaCW

It's hard to understand why the government doesn't close this contract. Even if they did, though, we'd have to deal with the punitive immigration policies, the fear, and the lack of basic respect for our brothers and sisters, that make Sheriff Joe's actions possible and in some cases popular...that is going to be a long hard job.
Nate, thank you for the post.

SisterMarie

Nate,

I'm hopeful that as these actions are exposed, that Christians across the country will make their voices heard to end these despicable practices.

BuckeyeDon

As I wrote on a previous post, Sheriff Joe's actions are more show business than legitimate law enforcement. The local paper (the East Valley Tribune) recently ran a series of investigative reports exposing how his department has been neglecting its other law enforcement duties. According to the reports, Sheriff Joe's concentration on rounding up undocumented immigrants has caused budget deficits for his department, increased response times for emergency calls, allowing crimes to go uninvestigated, and failure to track down and arrest real criminals--including drug smugglers.

Here is another resource about the downsides of Sheriff Joe's antics: http://immigrationpolicy.org/images/File/factch...

kevin47

“I wish that the Phoenix Police Department would arrest everybody, even if they’re not sure [of that person's legal status].”

Well, we can all agree that the police department shouldn't arrest literally everybody. What is the context for this statement? Outside of Nieto and his ACLU lawyers, I am not seeing the outrage the author describes.

The real beef here seems to be with Arpaio's humiliation of prisoners, which made him an ACLU target in the first place. But nobody particularly cares if prisoners are trotted out in pinstripes or pink boxers, so we get this.

This thing has Jena 6 written all over it. Fool me once, as George W. Bush would eventually say.

Eric77

The "real beef" seems to be he's arresting people regardless of their immigrant status. He seems to be arresting people, like Neito, who are American citizens. This is a problem and unjust. He also hurts the cause of stronger border control by making himself an easy target by his antics. He'll become the face of border control if the pro-amnesty groups have their way.

kevin47

Are there any objective sources indicating that this is so? I haven't seen any press coverage of the Nieto story.

But yes, if this is what he is doing, that's no good.

________________________________

david

You asked below if there were any "objective sources" confirming the above information regarding Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his controversial techniques.

The New York Times' editorial board published an article calling Arpaio the worst sheriff in the country (http://theboard.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/31/am...),
and published another article regarding the uncalled for parading of latin/mexican-american inmates around (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/opinion/06fri...).

Arpaio also has a penchant for the dramatic, and loves notariety - so last December he contracted with Fox Network reality television producers to make a tv show "a prank-fueled effort to bring nonviolent offenders with outstanding warrants in or near Phoenix to justice."

The New York Times had a response to that as well (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/business/medi...).

kevin47

Well, the NYT editorial board is not objective, by definition. I am aware that Arpaio is controversial. I was wondering if there were any news articles regarding this incident or the quote cited.

________________________________

david

NYTimes aside, the editorials cite FACT, which IS objective. With Arpaio you are hard-pressed to find fully objective reporting, as it is hard to not take a stand one-way or another, for or against him. If you're looking for a bare statement of the facts without reaction or commentary I don't believe you're going to find it.

Last fall the Arizona Republic recorded the actions of Sheriff Joe in his raid on City Hall in Mesa, Arizona, and the regional library - leading about 60 deputies in bulletproof vests with semi-automatic weapons to arrest several cleaning workers, outraging the Mesa city Mayor (http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/a...). I think the non-partisan report by the Goldwater Institute regarding Arpaio's force's ineffectiveness proves absolutely true: "It has diverted resources away from basic law-enforcement functions to highly publicized immigration sweeps, which are ineffective in policing illegal immigration and in reducing crime generally" (report at http://www.goldwaterinstitute.org/AboutUs/Artic...).

I hope the conversation alone might be helpful. I'm from Maricopa County Arizona, and consider it shameful what Sheriff Arpaio has gotten away with. He's a thug in the truest sense of the word.

JamesM

I am really pleased that SOJO posted this. The sheriff's antics are truly a disgrace to Arizona and to the country at large.

JamesM

"Well, we can all agree that the police department shouldn't arrest literally everybody." Kevin47

Yeah, I am glad that we agee on this bedrock American value-- the one that holds that law enforcement shouldn't arrest everybody.

It really makes me proud to be an American that we can agree on that.

ranfran

For the supporters of Sheriff Arpaio I suggest some reading from the Goldwater Institute. http://www.goldwaterinstitute.org/Common/Img/Mi...

Notice under his leadership violent crime in Phoenix is up 69% from 2004 to 2007 and homicides are up 166% for the same time frame.

I am afraid despite his appeal to dittoheads Arpaio is just another "doing a heck of a job Brownie."

DITE

If he hasn't already, I'm sure Arpaio will do a fundraiser for Tom Tancredo. And they raise a whole bunch of money from crazy people

Kevin Wayne

With all due respect, it's fine to publish things that make us more aware of discrimination, but until something is done about NAFTA & unfair hiring practices in the USA, we are simply going to see more craziness like this. I wish Sojourners would devote at least as much time to reforming unjust social structures rather than treat the symptoms.

PhilCollins

My parents live in Arizona, and they think that Sheriff Arpaio is a great sheriff. Sheriff Arpairo enforces the law, which is something that all police officers should do. I think that all religious Christians should support him, not the criminals. In Matthews 22:20-21, Jesus said, "Give to Ceasar what is Ceasar’s, and to God what is God’s’.” Therefore, Jesus wants people to obey all laws.