Victory for the ACLU Against Arpaio and Lieutenant Joe Sousa

BULLY BEAT-DOWN

Stephen Lemons

Julio Mora and his father, Julian, last year, after the ACLU filed suit on their behalf.

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More About

• Joe Sousa
• Joe Arpaio
• Julio Mora
• Immigration
• Government and Politics

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I hate bullies, and I hate dumb rednecks, and I particularly despise redneck bullies who go on to become cops.

So I think you can guess what I think about Maricopa County Sheriff's Office Lieutenant Joe Sousa, a vein-popping hick from Rhode Island, infamous for telling elected politicians and critics of his boss Sheriff Joe Arpaio, "Shut up!" during a deputies' press conference, where he and other MCSO brown-shirts vented their spleens.

Sousa is the head of the sheriff's human-smuggling unit, a brigade of pseudo-badasses who pride themselves on raiding Pei Weis, McDonald's, and Sizzlers to arrest harmless dishwashers and potato-peelers.

Interestingly, that unit, which also engages in racial profiling via Sheriff Joe's Hispanic-hunting sweeps, just happens to be one of the MCSO's pet projects that have been funded via the $100 million the Sheriff's Office pilfered from two protected county funds, funds that now will have to be paid back ("Gang of Thieves," April 21).

Also, in a sworn affidavit submitted to the court in the ongoing racial-profiling lawsuit Melendres v. Arpaio, Sousa admitted that evidence sought by the plaintiffs — "stat sheets" with records of who was stopped on immigration sweeps and why — were "discarded" by the MCSO ("Arpaio's Deputies Admit Destroying Evidence," November 21, 2009).

On numerous occasions, Sousa has publicly declared that the MCSO does not racially profile individuals, though the evidence tells a different story.

"We only stop vehicles for traffic infractions that violate state law," Sousa claimed at a 2009 press conference. "Period. That's our only intent" ("We Don't Need No Stinking Badges!" October 23).

Sousa also whined at the same press event about the federal government's nixing the MCSO's 287(g) street authority, which allowed Arpaio's deputy dawgs to act as immigration agents in the field. The MCSO crybabies on Sousa's squad placed their federal badges in a big punch bowl for all the world to see.

"The feds screwed us in Washington!" this buffoon from back east, the nasal-toned nudnik, exclaimed at one point during the presser. "Do we have to bleep that out? Is 'screwed' okay?"

Arpaio sure knows how to pick 'em, don't he?

In any case, I was pleased to see this idgit get his face slapped in federal court recently, right along with his jefe, Sheriff Joe, in the case of Julio and Julian Mora.

The Moras were caught up in one of the anti-immigrant raids Sousa the Oaf supervised in February 2009, that of county contractor Handyman Maintenance Inc.

Julian Mora, 66, and his son Julio, 19, had been driving toward HMI in Phoenix when two MCSO SUVs cut them off 100 yards from the business where the elder Mora worked.

MCSO deputies zip-tied both men, transported them to the worksite and made them wait for three hours, without food or water.

The zip-ties on Julio's wrists were so tight they left marks. At one point, Julian, a diabetic, needed to relieve himself. His requests and his son's, on his dad's behalf, were ignored until the elder Mora finally told deputies he was about to wet himself.

A deputy took Mora to the parking lot, where he was made to urinate next to a car.

When nature called on the younger Mora, MCSO goons escorted him to the lavatory but refused to undo the zip tie. Handcuffed in front, as he struggled to unzip his pants, Sousa's bullyboys laughed at Mora, asking, "What's the matter, you can't find it?"

If the Moras had been in the country illegally, such treatment, though wrong, would likely be considered par for the course.

But the Moras are not undocumented. Far from it. The elder Mora is a legal permanent resident. His son is an American citizen.

Following this ordeal, Julio Mora testified before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, which was holding hearings on Arpaio's 287(g) agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It was the first time Mora had visited another part of the United States ("He Never Flinched," December 3, 2009).

He told the congressmen what had happened to him and his father, acquitting himself admirably under the media spotlight.

Nativist Congressman Steve King, a Republican from Iowa, grilled Mora after his testimony, suggesting that his father should have informed on those co-workers he suspected of being illegal.

In an asinine stunt, King asked Mora what he would say to the father of a daughter killed by an undocumented drunk driver, a father who had come to testify that day in favor of the 287(g) program.

Mora, a class act, told the man he was sorry for his loss. He then explained to King that he wanted police to enforce the law, but "be smart about it."

In his earnestness and honesty, Mora undermined King, who had been intent on playing the bully that day.

Come May, the Moras, with the assistance of their attorneys, filed a notice of claim with Maricopa County, asking for $200,000 each for their treatment at the hands of MCSO thugs.

Then in August, the American Civil Liberties Union brought a lawsuit in federal court on the Mora's behalf, claiming the violation of the Moras' rights under the U.S. Constitution as well as charging the MCSO with racial profiling: treating the Moras shabbily because of the color of their skin, the Spanish spoken by the elder Mora, and the tejana cowboy hat he usually wears ("ACLU and Moras Sue Sheriff Joe," August 19, 2009).