Immigration -- Arpaio's Abuse Of Power

November 3, 2009

by Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Matt Corley, Benjamin Armbruster, Andrea Nill, and Zaid Jilani

IMMIGRATION

Arpaio's Abuse Of Power

This weekend, news reports revealed that the FBI is investigating whether Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has been "using his position to settle political vendettas" against those who have been critical of his controversial tactics, namely his bullish pursuit of undocumented immigrants. The news comes shortly after immigration authorities handed Arpaio a revised 287(g) contract that "clips his wings" by stripping his agency of its authority to enforce immigration laws on the streets of Maricopa County. Arpaio has stuck to his promise of continuing his notorious immigrant "crime sweeps," despite the fact that he lacks the federal power to do so. The weekend immediately after his new contract was signed, Arpaio conducted a two-day immigration raid on "heavily Latino areas" of Maricopa County and cited a "mishmash" of virtually non-existent laws that gave him the power to undercut federal immigration authorities. Nonetheless, the FBI's investigation involving his retaliation against political foes points to why it's so hard to stand in Arpaio's way.

BONES OF CONTENTION: Over the years, Arpaio's approach to law enforcement has been marked by controversial publicity stunts and dehumanizing gimmicks. Arpaio put inmates in black-and-white striped uniforms, pink underwear, and flip flops. He housed inmates in "tent city" jails that reached temperatures of 150 degrees and reinstituted chain gangs for both men and women. He banned cigarettes, skin magazines, movies, coffee, salt, and pepper at his prisons. But in the end, whether he's an "idiot savant" or the "Bull Connor of our generation," it's Arpaio's hard-line immigration enforcement tactics and troubling rhetoric that have helped him make a name for himself. Arpaio runs a posse program which allows regular armed citizens to hunt down undocumented immigrants as long as they can provide their own weapons and pass a 160-hour law enforcement class. He often brags about locking up 32,000 supposedly "diseased" immigrants for smuggling themselves across the border. Nearly 3,000 lawsuits have been filed against Arpaio, and the Department of Justice is currently investigating accusations of rampant racial profiling and civil rights abuses by his deputies. Arpaio has been erroneously referencing a designated hate group's legal analysis that he repeatedly mistook for an actual law which he thought allowed him to determine if someone is "illegal" based on their clothing, speech, and conduct. Meanwhile, Arpaio has added millions to the $3.4 billion budget deficit plaguing Arizona, and the conservative Goldwater Institute has called for an investigation of his office's alleged practice of declaring unsolved crimes solved.

POLITICAL VENDETTAS: Phoenix's local KPHO station lists a series of Arizona public figures who were paid "unwelcome visits" by Arpaio's deputies after speaking out against him. The Maricopa County police inexplicably raided Mesa City Hall and the public library in search of undocumented janitors not long after former Mesa Police Chief and long-time Arpaio critic George Gascon told Congress that Arpaio was "setting the police profession back to the 1950s and 60s." Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon asked the DOJ to investigate Arpaio and was forced to turn over his e-mail, phone logs, and appointment calendars to Arpaio's deputies a few weeks later. KPHO also lists Dan Saban, who ran against the sheriff in 2004 and 2008; Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, who tepidly opposed the sheriff's immigration tactics; Superior Court Presiding Judge Barbara Mundell, who challenged Arpaio's handling of inmates; ACLU attorney Daniel Pochoda, who has sued the MCSO several times; and the entire Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. Arpaio has cost his targets "hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees and tarnished reputations," despite the fact that few charges have been made and none have stuck. Former U.S. attorney David Iglesias told KPHO that he would seek an indictment if he were working on the case, pointing out that "we don't do this kind of thing in this country without some kind of consequence." Arpaio dismissed his claims as coming from "the same attorney who was fired in 2006" by then-attorney general Alberto Gonzales.

BEYOND 287(G): Since losing much of his federal authority, Arpaio has worked with state allies to expand the power he is already abusing. Arpaio has asked County Attorney Andrew Thomas to give an "official opinion" on whether local and state authorities can get involved in federal enforcement. Thomas refused to comment, but a local station points out that Thomas is "a close political ally of Arpaio." Arizona state Sen. Russell Pearce (R) has introduced the "Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act," which "targets the undocumented immigrants themselves, the cities where they live and the companies and businesses that employ them" in explicit support of Arpaio. Arpaio may have even won over the usually pro-immigrant Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who wrote to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano demanding an explanation for why Arpaio's authority was curtailed. The sheriff "won't close the door on a possible run for governor" and is confident he would win if he did. Arpaio does enjoy a 61 percent job approval rating and has cemented Arizona's neo-Nazi and nativist votes, but there's one growing demographic that's about to abandon the Arizona GOP altogether: Latinos. GOP recruiter DeeDee Blase was having so much trouble wooing Arizona Latinos that she started her own group, "Somos Republicans," which disassociates itself from the local and state Republican Party in an effort to register more Latinos under the Party's national banner. Somos Republicans fails to fundamentally address the xenophobia which plagues and divides the GOP, but it does recognize that Republicans like Joe Arpaio may one day render the Republican Party obsolete if left unbound and undenounced.

ENVIRONMENT -- GOP SENATORS BOYCOTT ENERGY BILL MARKUP: Last month, Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and John Kerry (D-MA) unveiled the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, which would help chart the way toward energy independence and a green future. Now, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) -- the Senate's leading climate change denier -- has come up with a new way to obstruct debate and passage of clean energy legislation: simply not showing up at the bill's markup. Although Inhofe came up with the idea to boycott the markup, it wasn't long before every single one of his Republican colleagues on the Environment and Public Works Committee joined him. In a letter to Boxer, who chairs the committee, Inhofe said that any attempt to begin the markup before acceding to his demands would "severely damage" the chances of passing the legislation. While a number of the boycotting Republicans are, like Inhofe, climate change deniers -- Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX) fall into this camp -- others, like Sens. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), have expressed concern about the threat of global warming. One of the senators boycotting, Dick Lugar (R-IN), even warned in 2006 of the "significant long-term risks to the economy and the environment of the United States from the temperature increases and climactic disruptions that are projected to result from increased greenhouse gas concentrations."

Buoyed by their success in New York's 23rd congressional race, right-wing activists, "are gearing up to challenge leading GOP candidates in more than a dozen key House and Senate races in 2010." "What you're going to see," said FreedomWorks' Dick Armey, "is moderates and conservatives across the country in primaries."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has reportedly reached a "private understanding" with Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) that would ensure the Connecticut senator does not block a final vote on health care reform. "Lieberman keeps assuring Reid that he's OK," said one source. "But he's one of those characters -- you never know with Joe."

"Maine could become the first state to endorse gay marriage by popular referendum" today, "as voters head to the polls to decide whether to repeal a recently-passed law legalizing unions between people of the same gender." Following the disappointing success of Proposition 8 last year in California, "advocates of same-sex marriage are optimistic that ballot box history won't repeat itself in Maine."

The suicide rate in the Army has passed that of the general population for the first time. Sixteen American soldiers took their lives in October, and suicides have risen 36 percent since 2006.

The Senate voted 85-2 to cut off debate on a bill that would expand homebuyer and business tax credits and expand jobless benefits. This bill would add up to 20 more weeks of aid to unemployment benefits, extending them through Thanksgiving and Christmas.

A "record number of lobbyists have quit the business this year," according to a new study by the Center for Responsive Politics and OMB Watch. "About 1,400 lobbyists, or 8% of the industry, left in the three-month period ending June 30." The report's authors say the drop may be a consequence of the Obama administration's new ethics regulations.

Pentagon auditors have warned contractor KBR that it needs to "cut its workforce there [in Iraq] or face nearly $200 million in penalties for keeping thousands too many on the payroll." Without "significant action," KBR will have "one employee for every 3.6 troops in Iraq by August 2010."

Media Matters Action Network is launching a new website today that aims to document the financial and political ties of conservative groups, called Conservative Transparency. "Knowing the source of conservative funding will assist the entire progressive movement in responding to attacks from 'astroturf' organizations," said Chris Harris, the group's communications director.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Iran to "stick to an agreement to ship low-enriched uranium abroad for processing." "Acceptance of this proposal would be a good indication that Iran does not wish to be isolated," Clinton said. Iran is seeking greater assurances that the fuel "would be enriched to a higher level and returned."

And finally: Did actor Edward Norton "beat Sarah Palin like a rug" in the New York Marathon on Sunday? You betcha.

Historically, off-year gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia are not correlated to the president's popularity.

Our knowledge problem in Afghanistan won't be solved in one Friedman Unit.

Is the U.S. stuck in a 35-year-old civil war in Afghanistan?

Using Twitter during a protest may make you a terrorist.

Income inequality might be a bigger problem than the financial crisis.

Are Goldman Sachs' "Masters of the Universe" guilty of fraud?

Debunking one of Ronald Reagan's fabled stories about taxes.

"Putting election analysis in the hands of cable news is like putting medical care in the hands of palm readers."

"The key to real reform is to restore control over our health-care system to the patients themselves."
-- Former senior policy adviser to the McCain presidential campaign Douglas Holtz-Eakin, 08/07/08

VERSUS

"I worry about where I go next in the way many Americans do."
-- Holtz-Eakin, 11/02/09, on moving into the individual health insurance market

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Arpaio's Abuse Of Power

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