Immigrants Marched Through Public Square

Via New America Media, Commentary, Douglas Rivlin

Editor’s Note: Last Wednesday, Maricopa County, Ariz. Sheriff Joe Arpaio marched shackled immigrants through the streets of Phoenix as a show of force and to promote his Fox Reality Channel television program. Meanwhile, former Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, the new Secretary of Homeland Security, has called for a review of HomelandSecurity immigration enforcement measures, including 287g, which allows local police to enforce federal civil immigration law. Maricopa County has entered into a 287g agreement with the federal government that gives Sheriff Arpaio greater latitude to go after immigrants, whether or not they are accused of committing criminal offenses. Douglas Rivlin is communications director of the National Immigration Forum, a non-partisan pro-immigrant advocacy group in Washington, D.C.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Sheriff Joe Arpaio is the gift that keeps on giving. Just as the Department of Homeland Security announces a review of the program that unleashed his police department on non-criminal immigrants, he pulls this stunt. Marching chained immigrants awaiting trial through the public square on their way to a tent city prison is a new low, even for him. But it is to be expected when a program like 287g is ramped up so quickly without any serious oversight by the Justice Department or the Department of Homeland Security. Sheriff Arpaio is clearly showing the nation the consequences of placing too much power in the hands of local elected sheriffs with too little federal oversight [...]

Local elected officials like Sheriff Arpaio will continue to exploit widespread frustration with our current immigration system for their political and publicity goals. The Maricopa Sheriff is the target of more than 2,700 civil rights complaints and has a stack of 40,000 felony warrants backlogged on his desk because of his immigrant-related stunts, and it does not appear that our national government is doing enough to address this public safety crisis. We join others calling for a federal investigation of this sheriff and his conduct.

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