DHS strips Arizona sheriff of authority to patrol for illegal immigrants

DHS strips Arizona sheriff of authority to patrol for illegal immigrants

blogs.usatoday.com

Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio says he will continue his controversial "crime suppression operations" despite a Department of Homeland Security decision to strip him of authority to arrest suspected illegal immigrants based solely on their immigration status, the East Valley Tribune reports.

“It’s all politics,” says Arpaio, sheriff of Maricopa County.

Arpaio will still have the power to check the immigration status of people booked by his officers, but not the authority to conduct street patrols looking for illegal immigrants.

(visit the link for the full news article)

The Federal government is overstepping their authority again by ordering the state of Arizona to stop enforcing the law. They are citing some racial profiling nonsense as the reason to stop it.

Illegal immigrants are breaking the law so they should be arrested and deported. Sheriff Joe Arpaio is doing his job and the people of the state support him.

At least it looks like he is not going to listen to Janet Napolitano and her open border policies.

Arpaio said he will be able to still conduct the crime sweeps under state human smuggling laws and an obscure federal law that allows local police to arrest illegal immigrants.

“Now I’m not under their control,” Arpaio said. “Nothing changes; that’s the irony of all of this.”

He will conduct one in two weeks “with a new twist.” Arpaio did not go into further detail about what that means.

Go Sheriff Joe.

blogs.usatoday.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 10/7/2009 by Erasurehead]

The federal government does not ever trump the Sheriff.

It wouldnt matter if it were the President of the United States who gave an order to the Sheriff.

They have absolutly no authority over him at all what so ever.

not sure where I stand on this

firstly how can you "patrol" for illegal immigrants?
someone explain this to me?

secondly, as an aside, since illegal immigrants don't pay income tax I guess they are model americans that every citizen can learn from

Oh this is funny!!

The department of Justice and other federal agencies are investigating the sheriff’s office on accusations of racial profiling during the operations, the paper says.

OH my goodness, they are stripping him of authority, which they cant do to begin with, BECAUSE arresting illegal immigrants is racial profiling??? Seriously?!?!?!?!

Its simple, he is acting outside of his jurisdiction. Its not his job to check for immigration status of someone that hasn't committed a crime, if he was to setup road checks to check who is an undocumented alien I bet everyone would love that right?

So exactly how does an illegal immigrant make a complaint about his/her rights when they only have basic human rights. So if they are questioned because they look a certain way well that's too just bad. If the town is not very big can't the sheriff just know that person is not a local. On top of everything else the Feds cannot trump a Sheriff, that is my understanding anyway.

[edit on 7-10-2009 by habfan1968]

[edit on 7-10-2009 by habfan1968]

Originally posted by mrsdudara
OH my goodness, they are stripping him of authority, which they cant do to begin with, BECAUSE arresting illegal immigrants is racial profiling??? Seriously?!?!?!?!

Answer the question, how do you patrol for illegal immigrants?

as far as i'm concerned patrolling for illegal immigrants by definition equates to racial profiling.

If they stop someone for traffic violations or something else, I sincerely doubt they go by the book. Would they treat a mexican looking person the same as a caucasian?

Tell me any other way to patrol?
Illegals have the word "illegal" written on their foreheads?

[edit on 7-10-2009 by ModernAcademia]

Originally posted by Phlegmi
Its simple, he is acting outside of his jurisdiction. Its not his job to check for immigration status of someone that hasn't committed a crime, if he was to setup road checks to check who is an undocumented alien I bet everyone would love that right?

Undocumented alien? It's illegal immigrant which means they are not legally there. If it were me and I look like an immigrant I would show my licence and BC and be on my way. Since they are not legal they should go back where they came from and follow the process that is in place and immigrate legally.

reply to post by ModernAcademia


Its only racial profiling if you believe illegal immigration is a designated term for Mexicans only.

If given the chance I'm sure he wouldn't mind deporting illegals from Russisa, China, Europe and any other Country.

This guy is trying to solve the problem by FOLLOWING THE LAW and all he catches is flak. Atleast he has the balls to enforce an unpopular law.

Originally posted by Erasurehead


The Federal government is overstepping their authority again by ordering the state of Arizona to stop enforcing the law. They are citing some racial profiling nonsense as the reason to stop it.

Illegal immigrants are breaking the law so they should be arrested and deported. Sheriff Joe Arpaio is doing his job and the people of the state support him.

At least it looks like he is not going to listen to Janet Napolitano and he open border policies.

I might've known you'd take the side of the most corrupt cop in America.

What he was doing was illegal to begin with, he is responsible for many cruelties and deaths, he is a bad man and if you really cared about this country, you'd care that what he did was illegal to begin with. But you will ignore that.

Originally posted by ModernAcademia
Answer the question, how do you patrol for illegal immigrants?

It says in the smarticle....

His “crime suppression operations” are saturation patrols in designated areas where deputies would find illegal immigrants by stopping them for traffic infractions and minor violations, the paper says.

Also, how can he be racial profiling if they don't consider Hispanic a race?

Originally posted by Erasurehead

They are citing some racial profiling nonsense as the reason to stop it.

I know first hand that Sheriff Joe is racially profiling people.

It is not the best feeling when you are pulled over for having a quarter sized chip on your window or when you're driving down a road and it's blocked of by a Sheriff Checkpoint to check your legal status.

Yes, illegal is illegal and they shouldn't be here, but this does not mean I have to sacrafice my rights for the "safety" of AZ.

reply to post by mrsdudara


ya this article says very little
These guys are NOT federal agents

Without an agreement that authorizes immigration screenings on the street, deputies will need probable cause to detain a suspected illegal immigrant until federal agents can determine the suspect's immigration status.

"He's not going to be able to arrest people for those kind of routine civil-immigration violations,"
www.azcentral.com...

They are NOT federal agents!

I am not against them doing this if the person has arrested for a crime and then checking his status, that's fine.

It's the street level aspect of his force that I am against.

"It's more than a technicality," Pochoda said. "There are many people he's picked up in these sweeps under the 287(g) who are clearly not subject to prosecution under the state human-smuggling law."

This guy is an appointed redneck vigilante as far as I see it!

Way to get sucked into the race distraction and miss the IMPORTANT part that is not in this story:

Who WILL be given the authority to patrol for undocumented workers? Now, I'm not even going down the "is it right to patrol" debate. The fact is, SOMEONE will be patrolling for them. SOMEONE will be put in charge of controlling the situation.

If not the local sheriff, then who?

How long until the contractors roll into town?

This country had better get a clue.

ILLEGAL immigration isn't 'illegal' if there is no meaningful enforcement at the local level. I guess what she really wants is a sizable federal police force.

Yeah, that makes sense.

[edit on 7-10-2009 by loam]

reply to post by ModernAcademia


Don't you know that racial profiling of Hispanics is the latest fad?

I guarantee that if these street patrols were for any other reason people would be screaming that their rights are being violated.

Show me proof where this sheriff ask whites and blacks to prove their citizenship. There is such a thing as white and black illegals who come to the US as well.

How would you feel if a cop pulled you over for the following reason?

Arpaio has said people pulled over in the sweeps were approached because deputies had probable cause to believe they had committed crimes.

www.amren.com...

Probable cause my butt. There is only one reason they stopped them and that is because their color isn't black and white.

Seems to me that if illegal immigration is a federal issue and the federal govt. tells the locals to stop, then the locals must abide...unless they have a state law against immigrants...but if they did, then anyone not residing in Arizona would be considered an immigrant once they cross over the Arizona border.

Just my 2-cents

[edit on 7-10-2009 by Aggie Man]

Originally posted by ModernAcademia
This guy is an appointed redneck vigilante as far as I see it!

The operative word there being 'appointed'.

The people of that county have elected him to be the sheriff since 1992. There is a reason for that. He is good at what he does.

reply to post by Phlegmi

Sorry to disappoint you, but he is not overstepping his authority. The sherriff has extremely wide latitude in enforcing laws, and does not have to obey Federal Authorities. See the Xth ammendment, you know, the one concerning states rights.