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Phoenix Mayor Asks for Investigation of Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Immigration Crackdowns

Earlier I wrote about Phoenix Sheriff Joe Arpaio's latest shaming punishment for women inmates. Now I see the Sheriff has much bigger problems. The Mayor of Phoenix is asking the FBI to investigate his crackdowns on the undocumented.

In an April 4 letter to Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey, Mayor Phil Gordon asked the agency and the Justice Department’s civil rights division to examine what he called discriminatory harassment and improper stops, searches and arrests by sheriff’s deputies in Maricopa County, which encompasses the metropolitan area.

“Over the past few weeks, Sheriff Arpaio’s actions have infringed on the civil rights of our residents,” Mr. Gordon wrote. “They have put our residents’ well-being, and the well-being of law enforcement officers, at risk.”

Arpaio zings back: [More...]

“I think the mayor is disconnected from the people he represents, and he doesn’t get the point,” Sheriff Arpaio said Saturday. “Now he’s going to Washington to confuse the issue and try to get the public against me.”

Mr. Gordon “is degrading my office and my deputies by insinuating that they’re violating all these civil laws,” the sheriff said. “We don’t profile.”

At issue are Arpaio's "saturation patrols."

In the past month, sheriff’s deputies and trained volunteers have gone into neighborhoods with large Hispanic populations, stopping people for routine traffic violations and asking some of them about their immigration status. Dozens of illegal immigrants have been detained.

ICE seems to think Arpaio is not breaking the law. Others disagree.

Last week, the Arizona Ecumenical Council and American Jewish Committee issued a joint letter saying the patrols “evoked a ‘police state’ atmosphere” and led to “detainment on the basis of a racial profile and dehumanization of innocent people.”

They were joined Friday by the Arizona chapter of the Anti-Defamation League, which echoed calls for a Justice Department investigation.

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  • Display: Sort:
    Sounds Like (none / 0) (#1)
    by squeaky on Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 02:08:07 AM EST
    Guliani Time, but against immigrants. Guliani would send out cops to poor black and hispanic neighborhoods in the outer boroughs to bust as many people as possible for minor infractions. His goal was to inflate his arrest records to show he was tough on crime.

    Man (none / 0) (#2)
    by phillhrrll on Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 02:30:56 AM EST
    do we need a justice system, one based on our rights enumerated in our constitution.

    Round up brown people to (none / 0) (#4)
    by scribe on Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 06:07:07 AM EST
    work cleaning the stables for his daughters.

    Ugh that man is unbearable. (none / 0) (#5)
    by Maria Garcia on Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 07:08:51 AM EST


    'bout Time! (none / 0) (#6)
    by Doc Rock on Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 07:12:48 AM EST
    Arpaio is self-appointed judge, jury, and executioner. Put him in his tent city for a few years!