Sheriff Joe Says He Doesn't Need Feds Permission to Enforce Laws
By Howard Levine
GOPUSA News
October 19, 2009
Sheriff Joe Arpaio was a hit at the Inaugural meeting of the East Valley Chapter of the Pachyderm Coalition on Thursday, October 15 at 7pm in Chandler. Sheriff Arpaio discussed a variety of subjects including his crime suppression sweeps, the Sheriff's Department (strained) relationship with the Department of Homeland Security, Maricopa County Government, and the Arizona Congressional delegation. The meeting was organized by Jeff Dial and Lauren Hendrix. Support was provided by the State Pachyderm Coalition with Don Goldwater, the chairman, participating in the meeting and welcoming the new Pachyderm Coalition chapter to the organization. There is also a Southern Arizona chapter of the Pachyderm Coalition headquartered in Tuscon.
Sheriff Arpaio said that he had the legal authority to do his crime sweeps and arrest illegal aliens under state laws and that he also has the authority under Federal law to pick up illegal aliens and turn them over to ICE. He said that having his department's authority to act as Federal immigration officers revoked would actually make his deputies' jobs easier because they would just turn the illegal aliens over to ICE and would have less paperwork to do. He did reference a mistaken citation of the US Code that he had used in a previous public announcement, and said that, yes, the citation was a mistake, but he does have authority to enforce federal immigration laws to the extent necessary for his crime suppression sweeps.
Over the past weekend the Sheriff conducted another crime sweep and ICE said that it was a matter of state and local government policy. The Federal government will not interfere with the enforcement of state laws. Apparently, Sheriff Arpaio's contention that he does not need Federal authority to enforce the law in Maricopa County has been borne out.
The sheriff commended legislators who passed laws against illegal immigration activities as well as County Attorney Andy Thomas who supports the sheriff by prosecuting cases the sheriff's office brings to the County Attorney. Without a county attorney willing to prosecute crimes, law enforcement actions to bring in criminals would be ineffective.
Sheriff Arpaio made the point that most illegal aliens, in addition to breaking the law by simply being in the United States, often were committing identity theft or fraud in order to get jobs, buy automobiles, get licenses, etc. He stressed that these are serious crimes which, if committed by a US citizen, would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law with serious consequences to those convicted. Many people, he said, don't consider these to be serious crimes when committed by illegal aliens.
The importance of County Sheriff being an elected office rather than appointed by the Board of Supervisors was once again stressed by the Sheriff. He said that, as an elected official, he is responsible to the voters and can act independently of other county officials who may not want the laws enforced as he does.
Related to this, he also briefly discussed that he could act independently even in the case of criminal allegations against a County Supervisor when necessary. The sheriff said that he thinks the law should be enforced without special exceptions based on political position or prominence in the community.
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