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Five Reasons Racist Sheriff Joe Arpaio Should Not Receive a Presidential Pardon

Joe Arpaio speaking at a Trump campaign rally
Joe Arpaio speaking at a Trump campaign rally
Brian Tashman,
Former Deputy Division Director,
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August 22, 2017

Last week, President Trump Fox News that he is 鈥渟eriously considering鈥 a pardon for former Maricopa County, Arizona, sheriff Joe Arpaio, telling the network that the disgraced ex-law enforcement officer 鈥渉as done a lot in the fight against illegal immigration鈥 and 鈥渄oesn鈥檛 deserve to be treated this way.鈥

Arpaio was recently convicted of criminal contempt after he deliberately violated an earlier court ruling that ordered his department to end its practice of illegally detaining people based only on suspicions about their immigration status. That ruling came in a successful case brought by Latino residents to challenge Arpaio鈥檚 racial profiling policies.

His conviction came after years of implementing discriminatory policies, flouting the law, and violating the civil rights of the people he was elected to serve. The 老澳门开奖结果 was one of the groups that brought the lawsuit against him.

Trump is set to rally his supporters tonight in Phoenix in the same venue where he during the presidential primary. Following Trump鈥檚 victory in the Arizona Republican primary, Trump that he could 鈥渘ot have done it without you Joe!鈥

Arpaio further endeared himself to Trump for his brutal policing policies 鈥 something Trump endorsed just last month 鈥 and his 鈥渋nvestigation鈥 into President Obama鈥檚 birth certificate, an inquiry that for supposedly proving that the former president鈥檚 birth certificate is 鈥.鈥

Trump鈥檚 personal affection for Arpaio and gratitude for his political support may now help the former sheriff get a pardon. Here are five reasons why a pardon of Arpaio would be a miscarriage of justice.

1. Racially profiling Latino communities

In traffic stops, workplace raids, and neighborhood sweeps, Arpaio ordered deputies to target residents solely based on their ethnicity, often detaining people without reasonable suspicion that they were violating any laws that his office was allowed to enforce.

In the civil rights case against Arpaio, the federal court found that Arpaio systematically targeted Latinos for traffic stops and illegally detained them.

After he was ordered to stop his illegal immigration policies, Arpaio deliberately left his unconstitutional practices in place, leading first to a civil contempt proceeding and then to his contempt conviction.

2. Failing survivors of sexual abuse

The people of Maricopa County paid the price for Arpaio鈥檚 pursuit of illegal immigration enforcement policies, suffering damage to community safety. In 2011, the Associated Press that Arpaio鈥檚 office ignored hundreds of sex crime cases, including cases of alleged child abuse. One officer told the AP that many of those cases involved the children of undocumented immigrants.

A Justice Department civil rights complaint similarly stated that the county 鈥渢o adequately respond to reports of sexual violence, including allegations of rape, sexual assault, and sexual abuse of girls,鈥 noting that county鈥檚 single-minded focus on immigration arrests led to an increase in the rate of violent crime.

3. Creating brutal jail conditions for detainees

Arpaio is best known for establishing Tent City, a sprawling, outdoor detention center which he once positively compared to a 鈥.鈥 Temperatures in , which is surrounded by an electrocuted fence, could reach up to ; one detainee said life in Tent City felt 鈥.鈥 People held there were 鈥 he called it 鈥溾 鈥 and were put into chain gangs and subjected to like public parades.

Women of color in Arpaio鈥檚 jails were particularly mistreated. The Justice Department cases where Latina detainees were 鈥渄enied basic sanitary items鈥 and were 鈥渇orced to remain with sheets or pants soiled from menstruation鈥 or were put into 鈥渟olitary confinement for extended periods of time because of their inability to understand and thus follow a command given in English.鈥

In what was called 鈥渢he biggest misspending of state funds in the history of Arizona,鈥 Arpaio鈥檚 department tens of millions of taxpayers鈥 dollars meant to improve the county鈥檚 jails and used the money to conduct immigration sweeps, investigate Arpaio鈥檚 critics, and pay for personal travel.

4. Undermining the health of detainees

People in Arpaio鈥檚 jails were subject to substandard health care, sometimes to the point of extreme suffering, even death. The 老澳门开奖结果 challenged Arpaio over his failure to meet the health needs of the people in his jails, and won in court when a federal judge agreed that the deficient and dangerous health care system violated detainees鈥 constitutional right to adequate care. Detainees with mental illnesses were especially victimized in Arpaio鈥檚 jails.

Neglect appeared to be standard procedure in Arpaio鈥檚 jails. When a diabetic detainee who had not received insulin shots began vomiting and having seizures, she was by jail staff. Eventually, one guard simply moved her into another room to muffle her cries for help.

The Phoenix New Times also that 鈥減eople hang themselves in the sheriff鈥檚 jail at a rate that dwarfs other county lockups,鈥 the medical care found at county jails to those of prisoner-of-war camps.

5. Abusing public office

Arpaio was known to intimidate supposed enemies, including a , , , and a . The Justice Department also that his office 鈥渆ngaged in a pattern or practice of retaliating against individuals for exercising their First Amendment right to free speech,鈥 as deputies tried 鈥渢o silence individuals who have publicly spoken out and participated in protected demonstrations鈥 against Arpaio.

In one infamous case, people working under Arpaio against him in order to 鈥 framing an innocent man in the process. He spent four years in jail waiting to clear his name and eventually received a $1.1 million settlement.

While Trump that Arpaio is the victim, a presidential pardon for the former sheriff would just be the latest injustice to befall the countless people wronged by his years of racism, lawlessness, and abuse.

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