Paul Babeu's Mexican Ex-Lover Says Sheriff's Attorney Threatened Him With Deportation

Babeu became a regular on Fox News and other conservative national broadcasts, touting the Puroll story and bashing President Obama for failing to secure the border and for suing Arizona over state Senate Bill 1070, the stalled law that calls for local police officers to enforce federal immigration law.

He became the go-to politician for the likes of Fox News on Arizona border security, even managing to outshine Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Indeed, he became known in some circles as the "new Arpaio."

Paul Babeu and Jose Orozco

Paul Babeu's alleged profile on adam4adam.com

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• Paul Babeu
• Jose Orozco
• Chris DeRose
• Immigration
• Government and Politics

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His chest-pounding over border violence always had included a prediction that his deputies would have a violent showdown in the desert with Mexican drug runners, and Puroll's claim was manna from Heaven for the sheriff.

Even after it was proved that Puroll had engaged in no such skirmish, Babeu stood behind him. It wasn't until Puroll told a New Times reporter that he had met with a smuggler who threatened to kill the writer — and Puroll hadn't reported it to superiors — that the deputy was fired.

Undaunted by the Puroll scandal, Babeu has continued to pursue funding to prepare for such showdowns.

Openly gay Tucson state Representative Matt Heinz was one of two Democratic lawmakers who broke ranks with the party in March 2011 and voted to give Babeu $5 million to combat border violence. Other lawmakers opposed the measure, in part, because Babeu's county is at least 70 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border. The measure finally was pared down to $1.7 million and passed by the Legislature.

About a week after Heinz’s nod to Babeu, the sheriff spent the night at Heinz’s home, text messages that Orozco shared with New Times show.

“I’m at Mat Heinz and his boyfriend for dinner & ice cream...we are going out to bar and...to their house. [Am] staying over,” Babeu texted to Orozco at 1:04 a.m. last April 2.

On October 23, Babeu announced that he was considering a run to represent Arizona's newly formed 4th Congressional District, which includes parts of La Paz, Yavapai, Mohave, and Pinal counties. (Heinz announced recently that he's also running for Congress — to fill Gabrielle Giffords' vacated seat.)

Babeu has since confirmed that he's running, and polls of voters in the extremely conservative congressional district have shown him with a strong lead over Republican opponents Paul Gosar and Ron Gould — the latter of whom is campaigning on a strong family-values ticket.