And therein lies the cruel Catch-22 for an illegal immigrant such as Garcia-Martinez, who cannot legally obtain an Arizona driver's license. At most, she is guilty of a civil immigration offense, as she is a stay-at-home mom.
But Garcia-Martinez is the victim of soulless, interlocking police agency policies that ferret out undocumented residents, whether or not they've done anything wrong. The Phoenix PD did not break Garcia-Martinez's arm, but it put her in harm's way by turning her over to the MCSO.
Stephen Lemons
Maria del Carmen Garcia-Martinez, shortly after her release from ICE custody. MCSO officers broke her arm.
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As Hill told this heron, "If we do book someone, we know that at the jail, they're going to check for immigration status."
All the more reason for the feds to un-deputize all of Arpaio's 287(g) goons. This will not solve the entire problem, as Arpaio has promised to continue his anti-Hispanic activities using state statutes instead of federal law if he loses his 287(g) agreement. But it might begin to deny Arpaio some victims. And it would force County Attorney Andrew Thomas to go to court with all these cases. That'd be an expensive proposition, assuming Thomas doesn't soon resign to run for Arizona attorney general in 2010, taking his anti-immigrant animus with him.
JUDAS GOAT
This funky finch figured Guadalupe Mayor Frankie Montiel's betrayal of his postage-stamp-size burg couldn't get any greater after he genuflected before Arpaio during a January press conference announcing that the MCSO would stay on as Guadalupe's law enforcement provider.
As a requirement of maintaining the contract — one Montiel, a Joe fan, never intended to let slip away after he replaced Arpaio-foe Rebecca Jimenez as the town's mayor — Montiel dropped an expensive lawsuit Guadalupe had brought against the MCSO. Worse than that, in late 2008, Montiel tried to get Guadalupe's town manager to request another "saturation patrol" by the MCSO.
You know, like the one on April 3 and 4 of last year that menaced everyone who was brown in the town — which's practically everybody in a municipality whose citizens are of Yaqui Indian and Mexican extraction. The Bird's not talking about a bunch of illegal immigrants here; most Guadalupe families have been in the town for generations and are just as American as anyone else in Arizona.
Anyway, Montiel's been a Joe bootlicker from jump, but he added insult to the injury he's done by sending out a memo to his fellow City Council members, announcing that he was invitin' Arpaio to Guadalupe, and asking if they wanted to sup with the sheriff when he stops by for a council session on March 26.
"What I propose is to invite Mr. Arpaio and MCSO officials to dinner at the San Diego Bay Restaurant at 6 p.m. prior to the regular council meeting," writes Montiel. "Please contact me with your thoughts."
Why, ain't that sweet of Frankie? Maybe he could tie on Arpaio's bib, too, and wipe his mouth when he tries to inhale a little too much Mexican seafood, the specialty of the house. And if Joe needs someone to wipe something else for him in the eatery's cuarto de baño, no doubt Frankie would oblige.
There are a couple of problems with the dinner idea.
One is Arizona's open-meetings law. If the whole council wants to meet Arpaio over some ceviche and Tecates, they'd still need to post a notice to the public ahead of time, which means San Diego Bay might have to locate a somewhat larger table for the party.
Another is that Arpaio's nearly universally reviled by Guadalupanos since the MCSO's rape of their town last year. And even before that, the town was looking to get rid of Arpaio because of the way MCSO deputies abused and insulted residents, sometimes entering homes without warrants, guns drawn.
Asked about the idea of breaking bread with Joe, Councilwoman Lupita Avelar said she prefers that Arpaio have a town hall event, where residents can air grievances.
"I don't see the point in a private meeting over dinner," she said. "I think it would be very awkward for me. It's hard to explain in words and not be unprofessional about it."
She also suggested that it may be part of an Arpaio PR plan, especially because the sheriff's under the gun now with the feds and because the one-year anniversary of his dastardly Guadalupe dragnet's near.
Avelar's got a point. Arpaio would love a show of (fake) reconciliation with some brown people right about now, and Frankie would love to give it to him. Or, um, take it from him, if you get this gander's drift.
