Are Your Papers in Order?

A Nonny Mouse

What a lovely piece of one-sided drivel. You so clearly paint the picture of the innocent victims and the brutal oppressive sheriff.

What's sad is that fools like you, who have never outgrown the adolescent need to defy authority, can't see that Arpaio is doing his job by enforcing the law. You're more interested in rhetoric than what is best for the community. Example: You categorized Arpaio as being anti-immigrant. He has done nothing to justify that statement. He enforces the immigration laws that are on the books. In that respect, he is "anti-illegal immigrant". Of course, that trivial little word is suspiciously absent in your opinion piece disguised as real news.

Let me ask you this: is it legal to drive with a license plate that is not illuminated? How did these deputies know that she was "brown" if it was dark enough to know that her license plate light was out? Why did she make a break for her door rather than approaching the deputies like anybody else would have? What was the immigration status of the people who were afraid to drive to work? On a side note, what happens if an illegal immigrant totals your car? Does he/she have insurance? Almost certainly not. Let's say you are among the millions of *legal* immigrant workers who can only afford liability insurance, and now you have no way to get to work? Now, an immigrant family, who is here legally, who went through the legal process, as did my grandfather, is impacted by an individual who is here illegally. Does that seem fair to you? Does it seem fair to any other of the millions of *legal* immigrants who waited their turn and followed the immigration process?

Is it legal to honk your horn arbitrarily? Is it legal to drive without a license? Is it legal to drive with a broken tail light? Is it legal to, rather than pulling over immediately, pull into your mother's yard? How about "failure to dim" one's high beams, is that legal?

Small towns like Guadalupe enter into contracts with counties for law enforcement services because they cannot afford to employ a police department themselves. It is not up to a mayor of a small town to tell the sheriff who patrols their streets to ignore certain laws, while enforcing others. I fully support Arpaio in calling her bluff. Her removal seems perfectly justified, not for "raising the ire" of the evil Joe Arpaio, but for showing by example, as a government official, that certain laws are OK to ignore if you disagree with them.

Your amateurish rant in the local rag, more famous for its ads for hookers than the relevance of its articles, does nothing more than expose you as a wannabe political hack.

Viva Arpaio!!!

Keith

I would like to leave a comment on here that truly reflects my feelings but I think Sheriff Arpaio would mistake me for a Mexican (which is easy to do after I have tanned for the summer).

It's insane that his Gestapo like policies can survive in today's climate.

Brent

Had this horrible stench coming from my computer....thought it reeked of Lefty pablum...sure enough...found the source in an alternative bird cage liner....See the "Hate America"crowd is all here....The racists from La Raza,spoiled White Lib children of privillage and all the other uninformed,hand wringers who would love to see the USA become a 3rd world cesspool...A place so hideous and sleazy they would feel right at home.....Keep talking Libs....We true Americans(of ALL races)are ready for revolution too....I personally would keep all the hard working Illegals and deport White Libs if it were up to me!Maybe someday you haters will see that Civil Rights come with responsible ,law obeying behavior!

Chris Vreeland

As today's students of history remember Bull Connor, tomorrow's students will remember Arpayaso. Both were two-bit sheriffs who made national news. Both ultimately failed.

Chris Vreeland

There is a reason Arpaio is becoming known as "Arpayaso" - this clown needs to be shut down. I will not stand by quietly while the American way of life is trampled into the dust.

Actually, Arpayaso is helping us because he makes the racism behind the anti-immigrant crowd's rhetoric rather difficult to deny.

MYK

Minnesota Slime...did you not read the part that stated these are AMERICAN CITIZENS. Born and raised here like you and me. Well not like you. Most Americans understand Civil Rights. You are an embarassment to our country.

david saint

Minnesota Slim, you shouldnt talk about things you know NOTHING ABOUT...just some info for yet another ingorant moron who doesnt even live in this state, but there are kidnappings daily occuring and what has joe done about it?? arrested and deported the very same people that the kidnappers target, NOT THE KIDNAPPERS...he goes after the little guys, the janitors, the lawn mowers (except the ones that work for his largest campaign contributor that is, Turf paradise), not the real threats to our society..see, i think that rapists, murderers, PEDOPHILES (like the one that his moronic employees let escape) are more of a threat than a man or woman that gets up and goes to work every day to make an honest buck...also, unless you think its appropriate to hush critics by investigating and/or arresting them on charges that NEVER have stuck, then you should rethink your opinion..if you do support that, well your nothing more than a right wing fascist and your view of patriotism is seriously flawed....

Hock

I still would like an explaination why it's appropriate for the deputies to wear balaclavas. They're not undercover. Just disguises should be forbidden unless authorized by staff and there should be a reason for it. They are civil servants, and serve the public.

Minnesota Slim

Sheriff Arpio is not only doing an outstanding job for the people of Maricopa County, the rest of the country owes him a debt of gratitude for keeping hordes of illegals from making it past the AZ state line.

It's telling that the only people that are criticizing him are America hating leftists and the illegals themselves.

Good on ya, Sheriff Joe!

Minnesota Slim

It's telling that the only people that are criticizing him are America hating leftists and the illegals themselves.

Good on ya, Sheriff Joe!

Another Yaqui from Guadalupe

A question I wonder if Lacey might answer in a subsequent article, for the rabid Arpaio supporters:

1. It is against the law for a law-enforcement officer to pull over someone when they have ulterior motives, ie, stopping someone for a broken taillight just because they do not like the individual in the car? (I have argued this strenuously with Arpaio supporters, and they all disagree: They say police are within their rights -- "The Law is the law," they say. But, court rulings born out of 1960s civil-rights cases should make it clear that it is illegal for police to use false motives to harass and intimidate. So, Lacey, can you help out by pointing out court rulings that specifically indicate that MCSO is breaking the law? That would help.)

Coz

If it wasn't for the grand standing of illegal immigration that Bozo Joe is doing currently, he would be still be as corrupt as ever, as he has been for the last 10 years, long before he jumped on the illegal immigration band wagon. The fact is pro Bozo Joe supporters can't see the forest through the trees and think it's ok to be corrupt as long as you pander to the immigration situation. According to them, it's ok to break the law to enforce the law no matter how corrupt Bozo Joe is in 99.% of everything else Bozo Joe does. As Lisa Allen once said, only the uneducated vote for Bozo Joe. The post by Pro Bozo Joe supporters prove this over and over.

david saint

first, great article, very candid and pointed. its too bad that the ignorant masses cant pull their heads out of the sand long enough to just take a serious look at what goes on. Its not a secret, those that support him either dont want to face the facts and would rather champion some conspiracy theory rather than accept it, or just flat out are too lazy to take the time to know. I talk to the latter usually, and they have such a hard time believing the facts i lay out to them they THEN go and look at it. This is pure abuse of power, and as im sure your going to continue to detail in future reports, this is not an isolated incident. Its the norm for MCSO and joe, almost like a daily fix of herion for them like a junkie. Its appalling, ludacris, and has no place in America. That said i know it happens all over, but not from someone who constantly demands the spotlight be on them...well there is Robert Mugabe, and there once was Hitler.... Its rather shocking though that the pro joe crowd are actually upset that the justice department is doing what it needs to do to protect EVERYONEs rights, not just illegals. The ignorant need to comprehend that if its allowed just once, it WILL continue, it wont just stop there. History has showed us this fact. I hold out hope for the future, and that doesnt just mean im happy joe could be arrested because frankly i dont think it will ever happen. It will however make him check his ego at the door, and it should scare him straight..that is if he continues to want to be a top law enforcement official. let me repeat that for you joe, LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL. That doesnt say POLITICAL OFFICIAL anywhere...Law enforcement doesnt mean you enforce the laws you want. Law enforcement doesnt mean you interpret the law as you see fit, or manipulate it for personal gains. its to be followed to the T, no if, ands, or buts about it. My feeling is if they cant do it without playing politics, dont do it at all. The job is law enforcement, and no matter how many times the pro joe crowd keeps screaming "hes just enforcing the law" its not going to make it the truth until he ACTUALLY follows through on it. And lets be honest, MCSO let someone escape from their custody that is far more criminal than anyone they have apprehended during joes tenure. His MO at the DEA was the easy arrests, hence the name Nickel bag. That MO seems to have followed him to MCSO. Why else would he send 60 deputies to arrest 3 janitors? is that a wise use of resources, paying how much overtime in these tough economic times to arrest 3 people they could have done anytime? Was Swat gear really needed to apprehend these hardened criminals? Heres one for you, how many lives could have been saved if MCSO had put due dilligence and effort into tracking and arresting the Serial shooters had they not been so busy getting fkd and blown by prostitutes they were supposed to be getting evidence on to make arrests? And why did all those cases get tossed again??? i look forward to the upcoming stories Mr Lacy..and thanks for your courage and Patriotism in the face of adversity!!

Johnny Come Lately

Mr. Lacey, don't blame me for this. I'm just copying and pasting what they sent me. Sincerely, Big "O."

So now Johnny O'Sullivan goes by a new nickname, the Big "O"? Would that stand for orgasm, like the one you have in your pants every time you post and see your name in print? You are a fucking slimeball disgrace to Irishmen everywhere! Your posts are nonsensical, off topic ramblings that expose your idiocy and self serving motives.Global Equity is merely a false front for some poor shmuck's beef with local law enforcement. What, did they pass you up for that promotion? No wonder, considering the lack of intelligence displayed in your diatribes in this forum.Johnny, you make yourself such an easy target, you cabbage eatin', potato peelin', whiskey swillin' gas bag! Do the world a favor and put a round in the .38 caliber toothbrush. Put that old service revolver to good use one last time.

Coz

I still find it amazing that Trent even said that bullshit.

If Trend had any brains he'd know the 44 million Bozo Joe has cost Maricopa County tax payers, all the deaths in Maricopa County Jails, the continual Constitutional abuses and everything else Bozo Joe does and hides from public view is NOT protecting the citizens of Maricopa County.

Trend is just another worthless bullshit politician to dumb to be anything else but a politician..

Michael

That's a horrible story and should absolutely NOT be tolerated in America! What have we become? Are we back in the 50's and 60's? Have we learned anything at all what has come about from racially targeting innocent people because the color of their skin? This is just one of the thousands of people who were wrongfully accused of being illegal aliens. The exact same thing happened to my uncle but he never reported it. Think about it: It'their word over his. Poeple are such idiots nowadays. Just because someone is anti-illegal alien does not mean that he or she is a good person who upholds the law. The KKK are anti-illegal too you know! Also, I thought Sheriff Joe is the man who makes sure all laws are followed. Funny,because when Barkely got arrested for a DUI, he served less time than you're usual loser, got his own protection, and practically rested for the weekend. That is not upholding the law, that is bending the rules for someone who isn't even famous. Sheriff Joe should turn in his bagde as well as any officers who agree with him (I'm sure it's mostly all of them).

Michael

The Freedom Bell doesn't ring

Trent Franks stood on the Biltmore stage during the McCain concession speech with wrapped in the American flag expounding Freedom for all in America. Unfortunately it was polltical rhetoric that sounds good, fools the people but the reality of life in Arizona is that few are "Free".

Stacy

I think it's interesting that Good 'Ol Boy Trent Franks says that in the article posted above (thanks Coz) because it was Trent Franks that wrote a letter denouncing the picking up of religious leaders that were praying in Spanish out in the forest for a religious retreat.

So let me get this straight, Trent: It's ok to pick up folks perceived to be illegal and perception comes from the language they're speaking, the music they listen to or the color of their skin. But if they're religious and the churches are upset, then write a letter standing up for them??? Give me a f... break. You're a two-faced hypocrite.

Coz

Feds' new tone puts Arpaio in hot seatD.C. leaders now more likely to hear profiling complaintsby Dan Nowicki - Mar. 15, 2009 12:00 AMThe Arizona Republic Few are feeling the change that President Barack Obama has brought to Washington more acutely than Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Not yet two months into the Obama administration, the veteran Republican lawman finds himself under investigation by the Justice Department following complaints that his office employs unconstitutional practices in enforcing immigration laws. On Capitol Hill, a high-profile congressional committee is preparing to hold an investigative hearing into whether Arpaio's operation discriminates against Latinos. And, based at least partly on Arpaio's record, the Homeland Security Department is revising the rules of the federal program, known as 287(g), that gives federal immigration-enforcement authority to Arpaio and other local officials around the country.

The controversial and popular five-term sheriff chalks the probes up to politics. But others say a renewed focus on civil rights has prompted the scrutiny. Attorney General Eric Holder made it clear in his Senate confirmation hearing that he intended to make safeguarding civil rights a priority again. Holder's previous tenure at the Justice Department, as a deputy attorney general during President Bill Clinton's administration, was marked by a keen attention to police racial-profiling complaints.

Racial-profiling complaints were virtually ignored during President George W. Bush's eight-year term. And the Justice Department's inspector general recently blistered the Civil Rights Division for the unlawful politicization of personnel actions during the Bush era. Laura Sweeney, a Justice Department spokeswoman, declined to characterize the Arpaio inquiry as the administration's first major probe, saying that would be "a bit subjective." She confirmed that the Civil Rights Division has opened other investigations since Holder took office.

"Both in tone and in content, the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division has changed dramatically," said Paul Charlton, who was U.S. attorney for Arizona from 2001 to 2006 and now represents Maricopa County Supervisor Don Stapley in a criminal case brought by Arpaio and Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas. Stapley maintains he is innocent of the charges, which relate to real-estate and business deals that prosecutors allege were not properly disclosed.

One outside expert doubted that Arpaio is the victim of political persecution by the Civil Rights Division, particularly in light of the report that exposed politics-related abuses in the Bush Justice Department. The findings, based on a joint investigation by the department's Office of the Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility, were made public in January.

"There is an increased sensitivity to wanting to have a Civil Rights Division that is active but not politically influenced," said Rebecca Lonergan, a former assistant U.S. attorney and Justice Department insider who is now an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Southern California's Gould School of Law. "I do not believe that they would be dumb enough to open this investigation as a political decision. It would be extremely bad timing."

A political target?

Critics of Arpaio and his illegal- immigration-related crime-suppression sweeps and workplace raids are cheering the shift in the political winds.

"Our sense is that finally - finally - there is reception in Washington," said Monica Sandschafer, state director of Arizona ACORN, a chapter of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. "Finally there is an administration that is interested in holding people accountable for the Constitution and the rule of law."

But Arpaio suggests he is a political target of Democrats, saying that by vilifying him as a racial profiler, they are trying to achieve a larger goal of scrapping or radically altering the 287(g) program. The program was created under Clinton but wasn't promoted until after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, during the Bush administration.

The Democratic Obama administration, Arpaio said, gives new clout to the sheriff's political foes such as Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, who nearly a year ago asked for a federal probe of the sheriff, and Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox. Obama's Homeland Security secretary is Janet Napolitano, who, even if not directly involved, can provide the Justice Department with valuable institutional knowledge about Arpaio based on her experience working with him in Arizona in her previous roles as U.S. attorney, state attorney general and governor.

It's understandable that the Justice Department is feeling pressure from the various politicians clamoring for action, Arpaio said.

"Everyone who is making an issue is a Democrat," Arpaio said. "The big problem is the 287(g). I'm the most active (participant), the largest with 160 officers, and they're using me as a poster boy.

"They're using me as a catalyst to make an issue of this, hoping that they can get something on me and my deputies on racial profiling so they can say, 'See what happens under 287(g).' "

Arpaio also is drawing criticism from the Democrat-controlled House Judiciary Committee, where partisanship often flares. But here, too, observers say Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., the panel's chairman, is motivated by a long-term commitment to civil rights. Conyers, like Holder, is Black.

"I don't think you can discount the importance of race here. Conyers is an old civil-rights veteran," said Rodolfo Espino, an assistant political science professor at Arizona State University. "You have two African-Americans looking at this who are very cognizant of civil rights and what African-Americans went through."

Hearing in April

Sandschafer and Alicia Navejar, another Arizona ACORN leader and Arpaio critic, were in Washington on Wednesday as Conyers announced that he will hold a hearing on Arpaio in April. The development came the day after the Justice Department probe was revealed. Conyers previously had urged Holder and Napolitano to investigate Arpaio.

Navejar was energized after speaking at the Conyers news conference, saying she hopes Arpaio is "taken to justice."

"I was just so excited to be part of something that is going to make a difference to not only just one person or two people but to thousands of lives," said Navejar, a naturalized U.S. citizen who lives in Phoenix. "I can see what it has done (to Latino families)."

Yet Arpaio's immigration crackdowns are wildly popular, and he was re-elected in November by a wide margin.

Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., a Judiciary Committee member, worries that hearings will exploit racial fears for partisan political gain.

"I think they would like to try to paint all Republicans as racist and motivated by things like racial profiling," Franks said. "I have not seen one iota of evidence that the sheriff has done anything but enforce the law on the basis that he is trying to protect the people within the county he serves."

Franks echoed Arpaio's suggestion that the 287(g) program is a target. "A big goal of the liberal Democrats in Congress is to try to do away with any effective cooperation to enforce federal immigration laws," he said.

Equity Court Services of Arizo

Mr. Lacey, don't blame me for this. I'm just copying and pasting what they sent me. Sincerely, Big "O."

Let it rip:

"Lacey, are you still fuming over your rightful arrest and five minute detention after you threatened Sheriff Arpaio's life by publishing his home address on your front page?

Your "cause" has lousy lawyers, too. The Melendres v. Arpaio "racial-profiling" case only protects brown-skinned LATINOS under certain limited circumstances in Phoenix. We really would like to see the Sanchezes get protection IF there really is any profiling, but your racist Mexican-centric abogados/abogadas are too stupid to argue a valid case.

We can see right through you, old man. A little broke suck-ass who's in the pockets of the cartels, human smugglers, and Carlos Slim.

Pathetic, Lace Man."

Man, these people really are after Mr. Lacey. I never had any real issues with what he writes, despite some political/legal disagreements.

John "Johnny On The Spot" O'Sullivan, "The Eerie Irishman," for "The Global Equity"

Dennis Gilman

Thanks for 15 years of courageous reporting on Arpaio's abuses. Never in 15 years has there been this much organized resistance against this gangster. One can say with absolute certainty that the flames of resistance have only begun to burn. Those of us that actively resist and oppose Arpaio will not stop with the DOJ's slapping of his wrist or the removal of 287(g). This isn't over until its over and it's just begun.

Rufino

Arpaio right now is only the ARM. But don't forget that a state senator and the neo-nazis groups are the BRAIN.

Hector

Arpaio is a pussy who breaks women's arms and only picks fights in backward states like Arizona. I find it annoying that all these browns are scared of this pussy. I am brown and I am not scared at all of that linguini eating, garlic bread breath having, idiot. I mean this guy's family immigrated from the country that is mostly all criminals who spend their days beating on women, eating noodles, and figuring out ways to scam people. So who is he to get all angry at hispanics who actually work hard in this country rather than just eating spaghetti and beating people with bats. Hopefully Obama will get rid of Arpigio. I am sick of Eurotrash immigrants from the ghettos of Europe coming to America, having kids, and then having them grow up thinking that they're better than the new immigrants.