An Arizona sheriff known for cracking down on people who are in the country illegally launched a crime and immigration sweep in northwestern metro Phoenix on Friday, a half day after officials in Washington limited his powers to make federal immigration arrests.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose sweeps have led to allegations of racial profiling, said the rebuff from Washington won’t stop him. He said he can still arrest immigrants under a state smuggling law and a federal law that gives all local police agencies more limited power to detain suspected illegal immigrants.
“It doesn’t bother me, because we are going to do the same thing,” said Arpaio, whose deputies had arrested 16 people by Friday evening on unspecified charges. “I am the elected sheriff. I don’t take orders from the federal government.”
Showing that Arpaio understands our system of government better than people at Justice and DHS do – this is a federal Republic, and its not for Uncle Sam to tell local sheriffs how to do their job. Unless a sheriff is violating a federal statute, the federal government has no business there, at all…and even if there is a suspicion of law breaking, then it is up to the federal government to prove it in court beyond a reasonable doubt. Asinine accusations of “racial profiling” are just a means whereby the government is trying to demonize the sheriff – to make public support flee from him, so that his power to carry out his job will be hamstrung.
Stand firm, sheriff – and know that millions of your fellow Americans have got your back.
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