Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County (Arizona) has earned himself a reputation. He has housed prisoners in tents in the hot Arizona sun, made them wear pink clothing and forced them to eat "meal loaf" (that days meal mixed together and pressed into a loaf).
He seems to think it is not only his duty to arrest and house suspects, but to also punish and humiliate them (even though many have yet to be convicted of a crime). He has a following among right-wingers, but most decent people consider him a buffoon who can't even perform his job appropriately.
But perhaps the most egregious of his law enforcement sins is racial profiling. In his zeal to fight undocumented immigrants, he has instructed his deputies to stop cars with Hispanics and check their ID. He has also sent deputies to Hispanic parts of the counties to set up roadblocks for the express purpose of checking ID's.
He doesn't seem to care that stopping all Hispanics without any probable cause is undoubtably racial profiling (and is illegal). The Justice Department is currently investigating these activities.
Fortunately, the Department of Homeland Security is not waiting for the investigation to be completed. They have completed a new agreement with Maricopa county, and that agreement bans the sheriff's illegal activities. They have told the sheriff that he can only check the immigration status of jail inmates. He cannot go out and racially profile to find undocumented immigrants.
Thank goodness. It's about time someone reined in this outlaw lawman.
There was protest march yesterday in Phoenix.
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