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Deported From Arizona
A controversial Arizona sheriff known for taking a hard line against illegal immigrants has been stripped of some of his powers in what he described as a political move by the Obama administration.Joe Arpaio, a gruff lawman who styles himself as America's toughest sheriff, has won acclaim from US anti-immigrant forces for his relentless pursuit of mostly Hispanic illegal immigrants in Maricopa county, Arizona, a fast-growing county of 4 million people that is home to Phoenix, the nation's fifth largest city. Under a two-year-old agreement with the federal department of homeland security, Arpaio and his deputies had been authorised to enforce federal immigration law by arresting suspected illegal immigrants in the field and by checking the immigration status of people arrested on other offences. But after drawing thousands of complaints and a civil rights investigation from the justice department, Arpaio was this week stripped of his federal authority to make immigration arrests. County attorney Andrew Thomas, one of Arpaio's supporters, condemned the "setback in the fight against illegal immigration". For his part Arpaio has promised to continue chasing illegal immigrants using state laws. In an angry press conference, he called US homeland security officials "liars" and said he would personally drive those caught on the streets to the border if federal officers refused to take arrested illegal immigrants into custody. "I'll take a little trip to the border and turn them over to the border," he said. This creates an interesting situation. Maricopa county is in central Arizona, but en route to the border, Arpaio would have to pass through very liberal Democrat, very Mexican legal and illegal immigrant Pima county (which includes Tucson). Even more important, he will have to enter the 100-mile "internal perimeter" of the Border Patrol's jurisdiction, where the feds might directly interfere with him. Posted by: Anonymoose 2009-10-12 |
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