Often, those here illegally are the most humble and devoted to the Catholic Church, and their children are directly affected by Arpaio's anti-brown policies, edicts that will continue even if Napolitano permanently bans ICE raids.
CHICKEN JOE
Stephen Lemons
In fact, Joe's bullies in beige will rip a mom away from her crying tots, if need be.
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Just how many deputies does it take to protect Sheriff Joe Arpaio? 50? 100? 200? Yep, when Arpaio returned to Guadalupe to address the town council recently, almost a year after terrorizing the town with his infamous immigration sweep, he brought an overwhelming show of force for protection.
I arrived hours before Joe's showing because I was already hearing rumors that the MCSO was doing an anti-immigrant sweep in town. It may not have been an official sweep, like the one on April 3 and 4 of last year, but (at times) nearly every other car passing through the crossroads of Guadalupe Road and Avenida del Yaqui was a black-and-yellow sheriff's vehicle. A bomb-squad van was parked next to town hall. On a vacant lot at the center of town, a massive mobile command center van was parked, with other sheriff's vehicles nearby.
The display sent a definite message: The sheriff was in town, and the town was locked down. The Guadalupe Mercado, the open-air market near the town hall was empty. One merchant who did not wish to be identified, said business was way down.
"I'm closing up early," he told me. "People are scared, so they're just staying home. This is killing my business."
Inside the town's main building, long before Joe showed up, a team of at least 15 plainclothes MCSO deputies wandered the halls. Behind the building, in the alley leading to the MCSO's substation, as many as 20 marked and unmarked cars were jammed. It was through here, via a passage that leads to the council chambers, that Joe sneaked in to address the council members. And it was back through this alley that he amscrayed afterward.
Before the council meeting, Joe's top PR flack, the gun moll-ish Lisa Allen, was practically running the place, moving things around, telling reporters where to sit or stand. The MCSO had complete control of the facility, scanning everyone who entered the building with metal detectors.
This kind of overkill was the first thing Joe was questioned about after his shuck-and-jive about moving forward and putting the past behind them. Council member Margie Garcia queried Joe on why he needed to bring an invading force to her burg.
"Why did you come to the extreme of bringing the bomb squad, and all this other equipment that you brought here?" she asked before lecturing Arpaio about the town's religious ceremonies. "During this period of 40 days, the people here go into a prayer circle, because it's Lent. This type of thing [you're doing] is very . . . stressful to the community."
Garcia pressed Joe to promise not to bring a similar show of force in the future.
"That's not a promise I'm willing to make," Arpaio responded. "We received intelligence that there would be hundreds of demonstrators here . . . I am responsible for the safety of this town. If I have to bring 200 deputies [and] posse to protect this town, I'm going to do it."
Actually, 200 troops (including posse alter kockers) are exactly what Joe had in Guadalupe that Thursday. There were not nearly that many protesters. I counted about 25 on the side of the nativists, and about 50 to 75 on the anti-Joe side. By 9 p.m., most citizens of Guadalupe were safely in their homes. Those unlucky enough to be out were getting pulled over by MCSO vehicles, almost in a replay of last year.
Not everyone was intimidated. Though the nativists were heavily armed, and had the love of the MCSO, community activist Andrew Sanchez and his family led a small coalition of groups waving signs that said "Stop Unconstitutional Practices," "We R Human," and, my fave, a stencil of Sheriff Joe saying, "I Arrest Pregnant Moms." Guadalupe resident William Robles got in some of the nativists' faces and told them where to go take a leap.
The nativists were mostly the usual scraggly members of United for a Sovereign America, Riders U.S.A., and Riders Against Illegal Aliens. But there were a few new faces. I engaged some of these newbies in civil conversation and explained facts unknown to them, such as: Guadalupe's residents are almost all either Yaqui, of Mexican descent, or some mix of the two — and they are all U.S. citizens whose families have been in the town for generations.
A few were perplexed by this info, including a tall lady named Melissa who claimed she was of Cherokee descent. Hopefully, I gave them something to think about. Ditto for my über-Republican friend Bob Haran, whom I like despite the fact that we both think the other's nuts on the subject of immigration.
Inside the council chambers, reporters may have outnumbered residents. Andrew Sanchez was present when Arpaio showed around 7:30 p.m., and before Arpaio could speak, he rose and yelled that all the council members should walk out on the sheriff. When none of them did, Sanchez, whose family has been retaliated against by Arpaio's men because of Sanchez's activism, left the room, telling the council members, "You know what it takes to get a recall."
