07/08/11 Maricopa County's Sheriff Joe Arpaio is, of course, the Arizona enforcer infamous for wide-ranging immigration sweeps involving machine guns and tanks and forcing pregnant women to give birth while handcuffed to bed.
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06/01/11 It might be his key role in the passage of a law that cost Arizona at least $750 million, or the ongoing news of the Fiesta Bowl football game scandal, or the questionable ties to prison lobbyists—but something is souring Arizonans on state Senate President Russell Pearce (R-Mesa), who will likely face a recall election this November or next March after critics filed a recall petition yesterday.
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05/25/11 More bad news today for Arizona's Sheriff Joe Arpaio: following news that he misspent $100 million in taxpayer funds and failed to investigate 400 sex crimes cases, "America's Toughest Sheriff" found himself sporting another black eye yesterday after the arrest of three employees involved in a drug- and human-trafficking ring.
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05/24/11 ABC 12 News in Arizona today reports that the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) failed to adequately investigate more than 400 sex-crime cases over a two-year period, many of which involved children from 2 to 16 years old.
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04/14/11 An investigation into the Maricopa County sheriff's office discovered that Arpaio, the Bull Connor reincarnate of immigration enforcement, inappropriately spent $99.5 million from two jail funds over the last eight years to pay for other law enforcement operations—including immigration patrols.
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03/02/11 He's already "America's Toughest Sherriff," but now it seems Joe Arpiao wants to be "America's Oldest School Yard Bully."
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11/01/10 Last Friday we asked for help to make sure that Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his volunteer "army" would not be intimidating Latino voters out of participating in the cornerstone of our democracy: voting. We asked our supporters to send a message to the DOJ to send monitors down to Maricopa County. Guess what? The Department of Justice responded swiftly, and will be sending election monitors to Arizona.
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10/29/10 This is truly sickening. Maricopa County's infamous Sheriff Joe Arpaio just sent this shocking message to his followers: "STOP ILLEGALS FROM STEALING THE ELECTION! Our grassroots army of VOTER FRAUD PREVENTION VOLUNTEERS will stand vigilant across the nation. We will be the first and strongest line of defense to ensure that only legal citizens vote on November 2nd."
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10/20/10 Building on race-baiting campaigns that demonize immigrants and deploy Spanish-language ads to suppress Latino turnout, many 2010 Republican candidates have embraced a disturbing new vision for U.S. immigration policy. The vision, touted recently by high-profile Republican Senate candidates Christine O'Donnell in Delaware, Mark Kirk in Illinois, and Joe Miller in Alaska, would involve closing borders, walling off the U.S., and embracing the Iron Curtain as a model for our future.
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10/15/10 Last night, in the much anticipated (and only) debate between Sharron Angle and Harry Reid, the Republican candidate for Senate had this to say when asked about immigration, reported by the LA Times: She said the solution to immigration is to secure the border. She also touted the Arizona sheriff who has developed a reputation for a hard-line stand on immigration. "I think every state should have a sheriff like Joe Arpaio," she said.
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10/12/10 A recent segment of Anderson Cooper 360 shined a light on Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio's history of using his office to initiate bizarre investigations and settle political scores with those who dared question the Sheriff's tactics over the years.
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09/02/10 It's unfortunate that the Justice Department has to take this step and force Arpaio to comply with a federal civil rights investigation, but we commend the Department for doing so. If Sheriff Arpaio truly has nothing to hide, he should have no problem turning over the documents in question.
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08/18/10 According to the Washington Post: Justice Department officials in Washington have issued a rare threat to sue Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio if he does not cooperate with their investigation of whether he discriminates against Hispanics. The civil rights inquiry is one of two that target the man who calls himself “America’s toughest sheriff.” A [...]
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07/30/10 Protests in Arizona and through-out America continued today after Arizonan's governor, Jan Brewer asked an appeals court to reconsider the most heinous parts of the state's new immigration law and as the lightning-rod Maricopa County Sheriff, Joe Arpaio, prepared a highly publicized "crime sweep."
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07/16/10 The "Model Sheriff" for Arizona's SB 1070, Joe Arpaio, has a record of failed crime fighting tactics, civil rights abuses and creating terror in the communities he's supposed to protect. Today, we here at America's Voice Education Fund released a new report detailing the long, disturbing and ineffective record of Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, AZ.
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06/02/10 The courageous Trail of Dreams students are at it again. Having completed a 1500 mile trek from Miami to Washington fighting for their cause to end the deportation of students and separation of families, the student activists traveled to Arizona to request a meeting with the controversial, anti-immigrant Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
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01/16/10 Today I'm proud to team up with Sarahi Uribe from NDLON, and Adam Luna from America's Voice, as well as our many blog-migos in the twitter-verse, to chronicle the massive anti-Arpaio march and rally happening right now in Phoenix, Arizona! Expect updates every 15 minutes or so (displayed in Phoenix time), and leave us some comment-love. Please consider giving generously to cover the costs of the event -- all funds go directly to provide water and support to protesters (via NDLON).
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01/15/10 USA Today reports that Arizona has become 'ground zero' of our nation's immigration fight, largely on account of Sheriff Joe Arpaio's controversial tactics and several anti-immigrant measures that have made their way into law: "When activists from around the country rally for immigrants' rights Saturday, it's no coincidence that they'll converge here."
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01/08/10 In the latest development in the Sheriff Joe Arpaio saga, the Department of Justice is convening a grand jury to look into various allegations that "America's Toughest Sheriff" has been abusing his power. According to Zachary Roth at Talking Points Memo: The probe appears focused on two related but different areas. It began as an inquiry into whether Arpaio's office had violated civil-rights laws as part of its aggressive tactics to round up illegal immigrants. But it appears also now to be looking into whether Arpaio used his office to target and intimidate political opponents, as several have claimed.
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12/23/09 300 lawyers in suits protested Maricopa County Attorney, Andrew Thomas, charging him and Sheriff Joe Arpaio with making a complete mockery of the justice system. Headlining the protest weren't left-leaning activist attorneys like the ones you might expect . They were self-described conservative Republicans, one of whom actually worked as a prosecutor for Arpaio -- before she couldn't take it anymore.
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11/04/09 What does Sheriff Arpaio do when he's criticized? Faiz Shakir and his team at Think Progress have a damning rundown of what many are calling "Arpaio's Abuse Of Power." From the Progress Report: 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.
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10/20/09 Last night, CNN's Rick Sanchez called out Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, AZ, for admitting to racial profiling during his "crime suppression sweeps" of Latino neighborhoods. At the end of the interview, Sheriff Joe basically thumbs his nose at Federal officials who have criticized Arpaio's sweeps (despite renewing cooperation agreements with him): "SANCHEZ: You're going to sit there and tell the feds, you don't care what they say, you're going to do it your way and you're going to do it when you want to do it?"
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10/19/09 The Arizona Republic , in an editorial today, had some harsh words for "America's Toughest Sheriff", categorically denying that the Sheriff has any federal or state authority to continue conducting these sweeps: "Joe Arpaio's self-promoting "sweeps" may be a lot of things. But "legal" isn't one of them. Clearly, there is some part of that word the Maricopa County sheriff does not comprehend. Arpaio claims he has the authority to continue wasting his scarce resources chasing down broken tail lights on cars and terrorizing Hispanic neighborhoods. Others beg to differ, including the federal Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency."
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10/16/09 News is expected to break today that the Obama administration will grant federal immigration law enforcement authority to this guy: "I will do another crime suppression very soon to show Washington and everybody else I'm not changing, I will not be intimidated by Congress, by alleged racial profiling investigations by the Justice Department, by all these demonstrators, these politicians, all trying to keep me from doing my job, so nothing will change. Stay tuned." Introducing Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona.
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10/06/09 Notorious Sheriff Joe Arpaio is at it again. This time, he has told various local media outlets that he has signed a new agreement with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and will continue participating in what is known as the 287(g) program, which, among other things, allows local law enforcement to become de facto immigration officers. If this claim is true (Arpaio has a history of dissembling and exaggerating, and DHS has been notably silent on what is transpiring), it is a deeply disturbing development.
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09/10/09 We're coming to the close of the year in which President Obama said that immigration reform would be a priority. But to date, the Obama administration has only extended harsh immigration enforcement provisions put in place by the Clinton or second Bush administrations. These punitive pieces of legislation include E-Verify, a 100% detainment policy, the Secure Communities initiative, and the infamous 287(g) agreement. Cumulatively, they do not reflect a workable philosophy on immigrants, society, or the U.S. economy. Instead, this enforcement agenda destabilizes communities with police persecution and terror.
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08/21/09 For the 130 immigrant advocates, business and labor leaders, and law enforcement representatives, who met with Janet Napoitano yesterday, the urgency for real reform is clear.Here are four video responses from attendees at yesterday's White House meeting on immigration reform. I took these videos directly after the meeting, as attendees were leaving the White House.
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