Arpaio allies outraged by feds' actions

Arpaio allies outraged by feds' actions
by JJ Hensley - Mar. 12, 2009 12:00 AM

The Arizona Republic

She was fighting mad.

The woman had seen enough of people speaking out against Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's enforcement of immigration laws.

So, despite the presence of nearly 50 protesters and a phalanx of media outside the Sheriff's Office on Wednesday morning in downtown Phoenix, she made her way to the front of the scrum and let loose.

"He's the only one who upholds the law. . . . If you don't believe in the law, change it," said the woman, who was on her way to court and who would identify herself only as "a U.S. citizen."

Arpaio's supporters, from politicians to police officers to members of the public, were defending their sheriff, one day after the U.S. Department of Justice announced it was launching an investigation into allegations that sheriff's deputies rely on racial profiling to root illegal immigrants out of the Valley. On Wednesday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., also announced he would hold hearings into the complaints against the sheriff.

Arpaio's critics say the problems are with deputies unlawfully detaining U.S. citizens, not with the practice of handing over illegal immigrants for deportation.

"Up until this investigation, who was holding Arpaio accountable? Nobody," said Randy Parraz, an organizer with the Maricopa Citizens for Safety and Accountability.

Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, predicted nothing will come out the Justice investigation, in part because Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials reviewed and approved Arpaio's use of the program that trains deputies to enforce immigration law.

The entire affair, Pearce said, is politically motivated.

"It stinks from high heaven," Pearce said. "This is outrageous conduct on the part of the federal government. They're violating their own laws. When you impede the enforcement of their own laws, it's a violation of their own laws."

Even those who question Arpaio's tactics were hard pressed to disagree with the notion that politics are playing a role.

Thomas Attwell, a Mesa resident, said that Arpaio played the politics card first and that his opponents are responding in kind.

"It means the Democrats are running Washington," Attwell said. "Isn't Arpaio the one who made it political? It's not like he went about his job quietly."

The way Arpaio goes about his work has won plenty of support in Maricopa County, where voters elected the sheriff to his fifth consecutive term in November by a wide margin.

The sheriff's efforts against illegal immigration are working, said Mark Spencer, a Phoenix police officer and Arpaio supporter who is president of a group that has pushed Phoenix police to adopt policies similar to Arpaio's.

"We do pro-active enforcement in all sorts of areas, whether they're narcotics or prostitution," Spencer said. "Just as important are maintaining and protecting a person's civil rights. If there are valid complaints that a department and/or an officer are violating a person's civil rights, I think that warrants attention to make sure that type of conduct ceases."

Arpaio has promised to not change his tactics, no matter who is calling for inquiries or conducting an investigation, a prospect that leaves critics with the prospect of learning to live with his brand of enforcement.

Donovan Morgan, who moved to Maricopa County from Gary, Ind., in the past year, said police there use "gang ordinances" to detain people who dress a certain way.

"You see a certain demographic and you pretty much go after them a certain way," said Morgan, 23. "They pull you over in Gary for wearing your hat cocked."