As Gordon correctly pointed out in his statement after the Holocaust Museum tragedy, "The Southern Poverty Law Center has identified a number of Phoenix-area residents as key figures in the national web of hate groups . . . The sheriff consorts with most of them and has denounced none of them."
Indeed, during Arpaio's most recent anti-immigrant raid, at Phoenix's Lindstrom Family Auto Wash, Arpaio was filmed fraternizing with a supporter wearing the colors of two of the most notorious and thuggish nativist biker groups in Arizona, Riders Against Illegal Aliens and Riders U.S.A. The latter is the bike group formed by Rusty Childress after he was kicked out of the American Freedom Riders bike group for — get this — allegedly using an outside vendor that employed illegal aliens at his former car dealership! (Nativism and hypocrisy mix well together, you see.)
Dennis Gilman
Sheriff Joe, seen palling around with a bearded supporter (right), who was sporting patches for two extremist nativist groups: Riders U.S.A. and Riders Against Illegal Aliens.
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As for Riders Against Illegal Aliens, the group's Web site, ridersagainstillegalaliens.com, depicts undocumented immigrants as criminals and carriers of disease, repeating oft-debunked lies about an increase in leprosy cases linked to immigrants from Mexico. Also on the site is an animated cartoon depicting a biker chasing a jogging brown man. True to this, the Riders' presence at anti-immigration events is often colored by intimidation of those who oppose them.
That Arpaio associates with such nefarious characters should be troubling, particularly in light of a 10 percent rise in hate crimes in Phoenix and scattershot bursts of violence by right-wing radicals across the country.
Aside from the von Brunn incident, there's been the recent killing of Kansas abortion doctor George Tiller by a far-right anti-abortion nut. And in April, white supremacist Richard Poplawski , armed with an AK-47 and wearing a bulletproof vest, flipped out when Pittsburgh cops responded to a domestic-violence complaint at his residence. He has been charged with the murder of three Pittsburgh officers, and he reportedly said while in custody that he would kill more cops if he could.
In Arizona, Shawna Forde, leader of the group Minuteman American Defense, was arrested June 12 for what the Pima County Sheriff's Department said was her part in a home invasion in Arivaca that left a dad and his 9-year-old girl dead. Though the reputed motive was for money rather than ideology, and there was apparently a Latino in her gang of alleged burglars, the Forde arrest still illustrates what a nest of venomous rattlers the far right can be.
Over the past year, the Valley's seen its share of spray-painted swastikas and hate-based attacks on non-whites. If one of Arpaio's bigoted fan-boys goes ballistic and unloads a gun on unsuspecting citizens, will Hill, McMahon, and others pooh-pooh that as well, I wonder?
TRAIL OF TEARS
As mentioned above, while real cops were out hunting down murderers and rapists, Sheriff Joe Arpaio — true to his nickname, "Nickel Bag Joe" — was at Lindstrom Family Auto Wash in Phoenix recently hunting illegals. There, his thugs with badges chased down immigrants and non-immigrants employees, corralled them like animals, and sifted through them until they had those they wanted to arrest. The total haul was about 14 souls.
Participating in the raid on this family business were members of Arpaio's 160-deputy force, trained by the feds under ICE's infamous 287(g) program. Trained 287(g) officers such as the MCSO's Sergeant Brett "Shut Up" Palmer and Lieutenant Joe Sousa — known for their invidious remarks directed at elected officials — were present, along with numerous other junior G-men and members of Arpaio's alter kocker army (a.k.a. the sheriff's posse).
Most arrested were booked into custody for forgery, charges that may end up getting dropped if those arrested agree to voluntary removal from the United States or roll over and testify against their employers.
Fourteen people means 14 breadwinners. One of the families ruthlessly crushed was that of 9-year-old American citizen Catherine Figueroa, whose testimony was captured for a YouTube video by pro-immigrant activist Dennis Gilman. You can watch the video on the Feathered Bastard blog. Both Catherine's mom, Sandra, and her dad, Carlos, were collared. She saw her father on TV zip-tied.
"I never knew this would happen," said the girl, who begins fourth grade this year.
Later, when asked what she would tell President Obama if she could, she tearfully requested his assistance.
"I would tell him to help us," she cried. "I want to get my parents back."
She also noted that one of the president's daughters is close to her age. Indeed, Natasha Obama, his younger daughter, recently turned 8.
Catherine, an only child, is being cared for by her grandmother.
Given that those arrested were booked on state charges, you could argue that Arpaio could have done the raid without his ICE-trained gendarmes. But, he did, in fact, use his 287(g) men during the car-wash bust.
That means the federal government's fingerprints are on this raid. Barack Obama's fingerprints are on this raid.
During Obama's 2008 campaign, he borrowed a phrase from César Chávez and the United Farm Workers, "Si, se puede," which Obama offered up as, "Yes, we can." But as Hispanics in this country continue to suffer at the hands of tin-pot tyrants with 287(g) power like Joe Arpaio, Obama's commitment to that phrase must be questioned. His administration's cynical, laissez-faire attitude to those hell-bent on cleansing neighborhoods, cities, and states of all the brown people they can is painful to observe.
