Civil Rights will Not Work on Joe
Arpaio
PHOENIX (By
Jon
Garrido, The Jon Garrido News
Network)
April 22, 2008 I began this round of
using civil rights as a means to rid
ourselves of Joe Arpaio. On December 24,
2007, I sent a letter to Ms. Diane
Humetewa, U.S. Attorney for Arizona
concerning Civil Rights Act violations
by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio
against Hispanics and prisoners.
I wrote, "Ms. Diane Humetewa, your
office has criminal jurisdiction
to enforce Civil Rights Acts 42 USC 1841
et seq which provide punishment
for public officials who discriminate
against, or seek to deny, the civil
rights of any racial or ethnic group.
The same applies to any violation of
the 8th Amendment incorporated into the
14th which bars cruel and unusual
punishments or deprivation of liberty or
life without due process.
There appears to be substantial evidence
Sheriff Arpaio, his deputies, and
perhaps other Arizona law enforcement
officers especially the Arizona
Department of Public Safety are
engaged in racial profiling and making
pre-textual traffic stops in an effort
to find undocumented immigrants so as to
get ICE to deport them. Because we
believe some or all of these stops or
at least the questioning and searches
that ensue are pre-textual, we believe
they endanger the rights of all Hispanic
or brown-skinned-looking people
regardless of their immigration status;
and of course, the 14th Amendment covers
all persons not just citizens so
those here legally on tourist or
green-card visas are affected even if
they are in fact
non-citizen Hispanic-Americans."
To date, the U.S. Attorney for Arizona
has not responded nor do I expect any
response.
The Chronology of Arizona Events
On
March 27, protestors on both sides came
perilously close to the tipping point to
violence
as Arpaio sweep along
in a new area
near 25th Street and Bell Road. Hundreds
of protesters were lined up along
barricades.
One
American Hispanic, David Morales of
Phoenix, said, "All that is needed is
one spark to ignite this explosion, and
if there is one injury or possibly
death, the explosion will be heard
across the United States."
Mr. Morales' wife, Theresa, said, "The
crackdown is a waste of time, a waste of
money and the sheriff is racial
profiling."
The next escalation addressing civil
rights took place in a widely publicized
speech on March 28 when Mayor Phil
Gordon came out against the sheriff's
tactics, calling them "made-for-TV
stunts."
On April 4, 2008, one week after his speech, in
an letter to U.S. Attorney General
Michael Mukasey, Mayor Phil Gordon asked
the Justice Department's civil-rights
division and the FBI to probe what
Gordon calls a "pattern and practice of
conduct that includes discriminatory
harassment, improper stops, searches and
arrests."
Gordon's four-page letter details
Arpaio's recent sweeps through
predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods in
Phoenix and Guadalupe.
"Over the past few weeks, Sheriff
Arpaio's actions have infringed on the
civil rights of our residents," Gordon
wrote. "They have put our residents'
well-being, and the well-being of law
enforcement officers, at risk."
In his letter, Gordon says he was moved
to write after Arpaio pledged to bring
his sweeps to other valley cities on an
ongoing basis. Gordon asks Arpaio be
investigated for possible violations of
four laws, including the Civil Rights
Act and the Omnibus Crime Control and
Safe Streets Act.
"I understand these are serious
allegations," Gordon said in his letter
to the nation's attorney general. "As
mayor of the city of Phoenix, I must
speak out when the rights of our
residents are violated and the safety of
our neighborhoods threatened."
Pope Benedict XVI at the White House
On April 16, as Pope Benedict XVI visited
President George Bush at the White
House, federal agents were conducting
raids at five chicken plants. They
arrested more than 300 immigrants
accused of being undocumented workers.
Some members of the Catholic hierarchy
said they were shocked that on the same
day that Benedict and President Bush
affirmed in a joint statement the need
for a policy that treats immigrants
humanely and protects their families,
federal agents were conducting raids at
five chicken plants. ICE arrested more
than 300 immigrants accused of being
undocumented workers.
If the arrest of undocumented is any
indication of no respect for the Pope,
then the U.S. Department of Justice will
not address the violation of civil
rights of the undocumented in A New Vision for Phoenix, AZ: La Playa del Sol. Even
though federal career executive
management personnel at the Justice
Department will find preliminary cause,
U.S. Department Justice policy makers
will not approve proceeding with any
investigation.
Therefore, nothing will be done until
2009 when a Democrat will occupy the
White House and appoint a Democrat as
Attorney General of the United States.
Arizona
State Hispanic Lawmakers
On April 17, 2008, Hispanic lawmakers
became involved and said it planned to
send a letter to U.S. Attorney General
Michael Mukasey requesting the Justice
Department launch an investigation into
whether Arpaio's "saturation patrols"
constitute a violation of civil rights.
"When one group is under attack like
this, when one group is having their
civil rights violated, I believe it
imperils all of us, everyone across this
state and across this country," said
Rep. Linda Lopez, D-Tucson, who joined
six other members of the Arizona
Legislative Hispanic Caucus at a Capitol
news conference.
"That is not what this country is about.
We're not about targeting individuals
because of the color of their skin,
their religion or their gender," she
added. "This has to be put a stop to,
and I believe an investigation is fully
warranted."
"Simply put, Arpaio is using the guise
of 'crime suppression' for the sole
purpose of rooting out and deporting
Hispanics who are in this country
illegally," the letter states. "He is
not, however, considering collateral
damage that is occurring. Specifically,
the civil rights of Hispanic citizens
are being infringed upon by being
unfairly subjected to racial-profiling."
Caucus members said without federal
intervention, Arpaio will continue to
target Hispanic communities throughout
the county, creating a hostile
atmosphere that could escalate into
violence.
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors
Since requests for the U.S. Department
of Justice to investigate Civil Rights
Act violations is futile, a second
option may be to recommend the Maricopa
County Board of Supervisors, which is
responsible for allocation of funds to
operate the Maricopa Sheriff's
Department, specifically earmark funds
to specific functions and operations
such as operation of the main county
jail facility and three
regional
booking facilities in Surprise,
Avondale, and Mesa.
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors
under Arizona law is responsible for the
sheriff's budget and there is precedent
in approving a department's budget to
approve funds only in specific line
items which signifies if no money is
approved for a line item then county
funds earmarked for county sheriff must
be spent only on approved line items.
Therefore, if no money is approved for a
line item, the sheriff would not have
funds to undertake immigration sweeps or
purchase services not approved by the
Board of Supervisors.
Even if this were the case, the fact
remains no member of the Board of
Supervisors would support this change in
approval and operation.
Citizen's Initiative
There is some discussion in the Phoenix
community to put an Initiative on the
November ballot that would modify
Arizona law to limit the jurisdiction of
the county sheriff to serve and protect
the area of the county where a city or
town police department does not serve a
city or town.
The probability of voter approval is
less than zero primarily because this
initiative is a Arizona state initiative
and Maricopa County is the only county
in Arizona with the "Arpaio" problem.
Therefore, there would be no support
state wide for this initiative because
in most Arizona counties, the county
sheriff serves in a respected police
enforcement capacity.
Hispanic News and the Arizona
Legislature
On April 15, in the 3rd floor
Old Senate Chambers in the Arizona State
Capitol, I made a presentation
Eliminating Duplication of Services of
County Sheriff.
Of the Arizona legislators present after
the presentation, there was discussion
of the probability of formulating
legislation in the current session and
the consensus was it is too late in the
current legislative session to proceed
to committee.
Next year, would be the appropriate time
to once again make a presentation at the
beginning of the legislation session to
change the jurisdiction of the county
sheriff.
Outstanding Criminal Arrest Warrants and
Victims
As the end of the legislative session
approaches, Hispanic News stated it
would begin a series of articles on
outstanding criminal warrants and place
emphasis on the victims of persons who
have been victimized by felons that
could have been arrested if the county
sheriff had directed his resources and
priorities to serving criminal warrants
and arresting felons instead of doing
sweeps searching for persons with brown
faces driving within Maricopa County in
a car with a broken tail light. Hispanic
News will now focus on stories of
victims and hold discussion meetings
throughout the Phoenix area.
America's
Toughest Sheriff
Knowing civil rights violations will not
be pursued nor legislative action at the
Arizona legislature this session will be
possible, if nothing changes the
probability is high, Arpaio will be
re-elected.
Something needs to happen to change the
level of probability for Arpaio and the
only alternative we have to defeat
Arpaio becomes the ballot box in
November.
On November 2, 2004, Joe Arpaio received
56.74% of the vote or 642,923 votes. It
was Sun City and Sun City West voters
who elected Arpaio. To compound the
problem, there are now many more than
before. To really compound the problem,
master planned retirement communities of
old white retired persons have sprouted
up like weeds throughout Maricopa
County.
It is these areas plus marginal areas
where something has to change the level
of support downward for Arpaio. The only
way to do this is to focus on the myth
Arpaio has as America's Toughest
Sheriff. Apraio has to be tagged as
Sheriff Barney Fife not the toughest
sheriff in America but rather a sheriff
who is not protecting the public because
there is grave danger in Maricopa County
having 70,000 outstanding felons and
Arpaio would rather use resources to
arrest tail light violators rather than
warrant felony criminals who are the
real criminals.
The non serving of criminal warrants
greatly increases the crime rate and
puts all Maricopa County residents at
risk particularly senior citizens.
Each Arpaio immigration sweep wastes
limited resources and puts law biding
citizens at risk.
This is Arpaio's Achilles Heel. It is
time we Hispanics started using our
thinking brains to beat Arpaio. We need
to implement the criminal warrants
strategy instead of traditional forms of
protests.
What comes to mind is the 2006 marches.
These were highly successful but they
energized us as proud Hispanics rather
than giving us more significant voting
clout to make change using the ballot
box.
Janet Napolitano and Mary Rose Wilcox
To compound the problem, the march
organizers are not from Arizona. They do
not know Arizona as most of us should
know Arizona. The march organizers
publically thanked Janet Napolitano in
their press release. How quick the
Hispanic community is to forget
Napolitano is part of the problem along
with Joe Arpaio. On the last day in
office as the U.S. Attorney for Arizona,
it was Napolitano who held a press
conference announcing she was dropping
the civil rights violations she was
investigating regarding Joe Arpaio. A
short time later, Arpaio endorsed
Napolitano for governor.
Quid pro quo
And the
sin of all sins, it was Napolitano who
signed into law Arizona's requirement
for verification of all Arizona workers
to have valid Social Security cards. If
she was a true friend of the Hispanic
community, she would have vetoed the
proposed verification bill. Instead, she
signed the bill into law to court voter
support in the 2010 Arizona senate
election to run against John McCain.
As for Napolitano, there are Hispanics
who work for her and other Hispanics who
strongly support her. It is time
Hispanics shun Hispanics who are aligned
with Napolitano.
What comes to mind is a strong request
from Mary Rose Wilcox, a political ally
of Governor Napolitano, to Jorge Mendez.
On March 21, I spoke to Jorge Mendez and
asked him if the written statements
published in the New Times were true
about him originally depicting Governor
Janet Napolitano as Judas Iscariot. The
New Times considered having Napolitano
depicted as Judas was appropriate
because the pseudo-progressive Democrat
signed the employer-sanctions law last
year, a bill engineered to drive
Mexicans from Arizona.
Mendez told me this indeed happened.
'It's not really what you think, Jorge,"
Mendez remembered Wilcox saying. "'She's
doing many things for the Hispanic
community that nobody can know."
At the request of Wilcox, Mendez
reluctantly axed Napolitano's appearance
as Judas.
The New Times wrote: "Indeed, whatever
Napolitano is doing to help Hispanics
persecuted by Arizona authorities is
being kept a really big secret. You
know, like Napolitano's lesbian sexual
orientation."
"Mendez caved out of respect for Wilcox,
replacing Napolitano as Judas with Phil
Gordon. But since Napolitano
back-stabbed the Hispanic community in
2007, Napolitano really deserves to be
Judas, even if it means Janet would have
to kiss a man for a change as Judas did
to Christ back in the day," according to
the New Times article.
Then there are those Food City
endorsements. Wilcox must live in a cave
or simply does not care she prostitutes
herself endorsing Eddie Basha who as a
radio talk sponsor killed Comprehensive
Immigration Reform in 2007. Maybe
Napolitano and Wilcox are kindred
soulmates. The information folder gets
thicker and thicker as Napolitano goes
down in flames in 2010, Wilcox will go
down as well.
All of this information is being saved
as Hispanic News contemplates an
editorial on "what's in it for me" Mary
Rose Wilcox, "Friend of Janet
Napolitano" for publication at a later
appropriate time.
Lastly, the letter I sent Phoenix to
Tucson march organizers is included as
part of this article.
Jon Garrido
Throughout history
there have been tyrants and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the
end they always fall. Think of it always. Mahatma Gandhi
