Sheriff Joe gets Pardon

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

President Trump has pardoned Joe Arpaio, the controversial former sheriff of Maricopa County, Ariz., the White House announced Friday night.

“Throughout his time as Sheriff, Arpaio continued his life’s work of protecting the public from the scourges of crime and illegal immigration,” the White House said in a statement stressing Arpaio's public service.

....
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Arpaio had been found guilty in a Justice Department investigation of racially profiling Latinos. He was convicted July 31 of criminal contempt for disobeying a federal judge's order on detaining individuals suspected of being in the U.S. illegally.

Democrats and civil rights groups blasted Trump's decision to pardon Arpaio on Friday, arguing that while Trump was within his rights to pardon the former sheriff the move was unjustified.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/348061-trump-pardons-arpaio

I guess if you can't get your racist way at the judicial or legislative level, you can just pardon anyone racial profiling who is one of your die-hard racist supporters.

Does this worry anyone or is democracy not a thing anyone thinks about anymore now that Twitler has hijacked half the news and memes in the country?

 

[Harry Bosch]

President Trump has pardoned Joe Arpaio, the controversial former sheriff of Maricopa County, Ariz., the White House announced Friday night.

“Throughout his time as Sheriff, Arpaio continued his life’s work of protecting the public from the scourges of crime and illegal immigration,” the White House said in a statement stressing Arpaio's public service.

....
....

Arpaio had been found guilty in a Justice Department investigation of racially profiling Latinos. He was convicted July 31 of criminal contempt for disobeying a federal judge's order on detaining individuals suspected of being in the U.S. illegally.

Democrats and civil rights groups blasted Trump's decision to pardon Arpaio on Friday, arguing that while Trump was within his rights to pardon the former sheriff the move was unjustified.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/348061-trump-pardons-arpaio

I guess if you can't get your racist way at the judicial or legislative level, you can just pardon anyone racial profiling who is one of your die-hard racist supporters.

Does this worry anyone or is democracy not a thing anyone thinks about anymore now that Twitler has hijacked half the news and memes in the country?

Well, I think that this is the beginning of a real screw tightening on Hispanics. There are rumors that the Dreamers will get purged. Trump is using Hurricane Harvey to harass Hispanics:

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/th...-harvey/ar-AAqHMAx?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartanntp

 

[Derec]

Well, I think that this is the beginning of a real screw tightening on Hispanics.

Why are you equating "illegal" with "Hispanic"?

There are rumors that the Dreamers will get purged.

The dreamer classification was too broad to begin with. Even many illegals with criminal records could get "dreamer" status.

Trump is using Hurricane Harvey to harass Hispanics:

Again, illegals, not Hispanics as a whole.

 

[Derec]

I guess if you can't get your racist way at the judicial or legislative level,

What "racist way"? Enforcing immigration laws and going after people in the country illegally is not "racism".

 

[laughing dog]

This is a troubling pardon. Arpaio did not make a mistake in judgment. He was found guilty as an elected official for willfully disobeying a federal judge's order to obey the Constitution. This is real slap in the face to the judiciary and the notion of the rule of law.

 

[RavenSky]

Why are you equating "illegal" with "Hispanic"?

There are rumors that the Dreamers will get purged.

The dreamer classification was too broad to begin with. Even many illegals with criminal records could get "dreamer" status.

Trump is using Hurricane Harvey to harass Hispanics:

Again, illegals, not Hispanics as a whole.

Well you stupid fucking attempt at a distinction means fucking nothing when people WITH valid green cards and/or citizenship are being detained, too.

This is just pure RACISM

 

[Derec]

Well you stupid fucking attempt at a distinction means fucking nothing when people WITH valid green cards

There is no URL in the URL field on this one, just what appears to be article title.

and/or citizenship are being detained, too.

This is not Joe Arpaio's doing. It's ICE officers (under Obama administration, so you can't even blame Trump), not local sheriff's office, and it's not even in the same state.

This is just pure RACISM

You can't claim it's "pure racism" when the article says that

What happened over the next three days still remains largely unclear, even to the Crested Butte lawyer who filed the lawsuits, who described Medina’s ordeal as a “nightmare” in court filings.

If what happened is unclear, how can you be so sure what motivated the agents in question?

Also, please fix the link to the first article.

 

[Derec]

This is a troubling pardon. Arpaio did not make a mistake in judgment. He was found guilty as an elected official for willfully disobeying a federal judge's order to obey the Constitution. This is real slap in the face to the judiciary and the notion of the rule of law.

Cite me the part of the Constitution that prohibits detaining those who enter the country illegally.
That said, Arpaio should not have disobeyed the judge's decision, as wrongheaded as it was. But that is only a misdemeanor. Very different from terrorism or pardoning a tax evader because he donated money to you and your wife.

 

[Harry Bosch]

Why are you equating "illegal" with "Hispanic"?

There are rumors that the Dreamers will get purged.

The dreamer classification was too broad to begin with. Even many illegals with criminal records could get "dreamer" status.

Trump is using Hurricane Harvey to harass Hispanics:

Again, illegals, not Hispanics as a whole.

You and I will never agree on this issue. My comment is simply what kind of a nation would expel a kid who has never known any culture and language in his entire life to a foreign country? It's just so cruel. I served in the Air Force in Germany. I saw many soldiers who were paralyzed in foreign places. I'd bet that half the soldiers on my base never left the base because they were just scared to travel (let alone live) in a foreign place.

 

[Derec]

You and I will never agree on this issue.

Perhaps not.

My comment is simply what kind of a nation would expel a kid who has never known any culture and language in his entire life to a foreign country? It's just so cruel.

I would agree for that particular hypothetical. But most cases are not like that. Most illegals do know Mexican (or Guatemalan or Honduran) culture and have lived significant part of their lives in those countries. Most illegals even replicate their old country in their neighborhoods in America - they never learn English, they only shop at stores with signs in Spanish ("supermarcado El Valu", "carniceria Jalisco", "salon de belleza" are real life signs I see in Mexican neighborhoods, which are spreading), they only watch Univision and Telemundo. Don't tell me they can't easily be repatriated to Mexico or Central America!

I think the Dream Act was not a bad idea in principle, but it was way too broad. When even illegals who came into US at 16 and who have a criminal record can be protected, than that's very far removed from your hypothetical.

I served in the Air Force in Germany. I saw many soldiers who were paralyzed in foreign places. I'd bet that half the soldiers on my base never left the base because they were just scared to travel (let alone live) in a foreign place.

And therefore we should just let any illegal stay? Completely open borders? No, we will forever disagree, I'm afraid.

And btw, I used to live in Germany. So when I meet people who used to be stationed in Germany, we talk about that. I have yet to meet one that (at least admits to having) never left the base out of "fear" and most enjoyed spending time in local German towns very much. Weib, Wein und Gesang. What's not to like?

 

[laughing dog]

This is a troubling pardon. Arpaio did not make a mistake in judgment. He was found guilty as an elected official for willfully disobeying a federal judge's order to obey the Constitution. This is real slap in the face to the judiciary and the notion of the rule of law.

Cite me the part of the Constitution that prohibits detaining those who enter the country illegally.

Your issue is with the federal judge. Arapaio is lucky he was not been doing time for a lot more crimes.  Joe_Arpaio shows this guy has had contempt for the US Constitution and our legal system for years.

That said, Arpaio should not have disobeyed the judge's decision, as wrongheaded as it was. But that is only a misdemeanor. Very different from terrorism or pardoning a tax evader because he donated money to you and your wife.

Of course it is different. It is worse when an elected official who is sworn to uphold the law and the US constitution deliberately and persistently violates an order by a federal judge.

 

[SimpleDon]

Why are you equating "illegal" with "Hispanic"?

There are rumors that the Dreamers will get purged.

The dreamer classification was too broad to begin with. Even many illegals with criminal records could get "dreamer" status.

Trump is using Hurricane Harvey to harass Hispanics:

Again, illegals, not Hispanics as a whole.

You are obviously misinformed. Arpaio wasn't convicted for chasing and retaining illegals. He was convicted because he ordered his deputies to randomly stop people without cause based on their appearance and to ask for their papers. This is unconstitutional. He was ordered to stop doing this by a federal judge. He refused to do it. This is a federal crime, a felony, to defy a lawful order of a federal judge. It is especially bad for a law enforcement officer to commit a felony.

Even if he considers his interpretation of the constitution to be superior to that of a federal judge, his only legal option was to obey the order and to appeal it.

This doesn't even raise the question of why Arpaio was trying to enforce a federal class 3 misdemeanor law under which no one in over a half century has been ticketed and fined for. It is a less serious misdemeanor than speeding on a government reservation or putting your household garbage in a national park trash can.

This entire question of illegals is troubling, not because of anything that Trump routinely and incorrectly says that they do, immigrants, legal and illegal, are much more law abiding than the native population is, but because of the damage that the illegals do to the wages and to the jobs of native workers.

Arpaio would have a much larger impact if he decided to enforce the federal laws against hiring illegals, which is a felony. You don't have to throw many CEO's in prison to substantially cut down on the number of companies willing to take the chance on hiring illegals. You could do even a better job of reducing illegal immigration if you canceled the contracting loophole put into the Reagan immigration amnesty bill of 1986, (I believe). It was after this loophole was added, coupled with the puzzling reluctance of Republican administrations to enforce even the weakened laws where they could, that the illegal population really started to balloon.

 

[Ford]

Arpaio would have a much larger impact if he decided to enforce the federal laws against hiring illegals, which is a felony. You don't have to throw many CEO's in prison to substantially cut down on the number of companies willing to take the chance on hiring illegals. You could do even a better job of reducing illegal immigration if you canceled the contracting loophole put into the Reagan immigration amnesty bill of 1986, (I believe). It was after this loophole was added, coupled with the puzzling reluctance of Republican administrations to enforce even the weakened laws where they could, that the illegal population really started to balloon.

A couple of points. First off, in Arizona we have our own employer sanctions law. A couple, in fact. The famous "papers please" law included allegedly tougher sanctions on businesses that hired illegals than the previous employer sanction law, which was on the books but never enforced. If I remember correctly, only one business was ever prosecuted under either one. These provisions were never really going to be enforced, since this is a "business friendly" state and our Corporation Commission and Chamber of Commerce might as well be called the Corruption Commission and Chamber of Corruption.

Second - and not many people from outside the state seem to grasp this - Sheriff Joe was not looking for a better way to deal with illegal immigration. This was all about publicity for himself. Anything that got his name in the news was good, and any chance for him to be on TV or radio was good. He perked up whenever you put a microphone in front of him and I know this because I saw it first hand. He's a doddering old man one minute, and then you point the mic and say "we're rolling" and he transforms into "America's Toughest Sheriff" on the spot. The man tips off the news when he's going to "raid" a business suspected of hiring illegals. When the cameras get there he's got the day's catch sitting on the sidewalk in zip ties to display for the media. None of the managers are owners are being arrested, but again criminal justice isn't what he's going for...he wants publicity. That's all he wants.

The silver lining in this pardon (if there is one) is that this is Joe's last moment in his beloved spotlight. He's out of office. His infamous Tent City is being shut down. Pink underwear and chain gangs are gone. Soon there's going to be no reason for the news media to cover old Sheriff Joe anymore. His glory and fame (or infamy - he enjoyed both) are now all in the past. He may not be going to jail, but his punishment will confine him more than any cell. He'll be imprisoned in ever-increasing obscurity.

 

[BH]

This is a troubling pardon. Arpaio did not make a mistake in judgment. He was found guilty as an elected official for willfully disobeying a federal judge's order to obey the Constitution. This is real slap in the face to the judiciary and the notion of the rule of law.

Whether is was the correct decision to make or not, there are many who feel the judiciary has become a dictatorship that someone needs to find a way to check. I am not saying these feelings are right or wrong, only that many have them.

 

[Harry Bosch]

This is a troubling pardon. Arpaio did not make a mistake in judgment. He was found guilty as an elected official for willfully disobeying a federal judge's order to obey the Constitution. This is real slap in the face to the judiciary and the notion of the rule of law.

Whether is was the correct decision to make or not, there are many who feel the judiciary has become a dictatorship that someone needs to find a way to check. I am not saying these feelings are right or wrong, only that many have them.

Holy crap. The only group left in America with any kind of check on Trump is the judiciary - and even they are mostly conservative. Mueller has a little power, but not enough.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

Whether is was the correct decision to make or not, there are many who feel the judiciary has become a dictatorship that someone needs to find a way to check. I am not saying these feelings are right or wrong, only that many have them.

There's a big alt-right media taken control of half the country. So, for anything that Twitler does he is going to have support or even "many people" thinking it's not enough. I bet they have propaganda right now saying that Trump did not do enough, such as he should have made Arpaio Head of Homeland Security.

 

[untermensche]

Why are you equating "illegal" with "Hispanic"?

That's what this racist ex-sheriff did even after being ordered to stop.

That's what Trump is pardoning him for.

But not just talking, fucking over human lives with his ignorant racism.

 

[RavenSky]

This is just pure RACISM

You can't claim it's "pure racism"...

pure racism

 

[RavenSky]

The silver lining in this pardon (if there is one) is that this is Joe's last moment in his beloved spotlight. He's out of office. His infamous Tent City is being shut down. Pink underwear and chain gangs are gone. Soon there's going to be no reason for the news media to cover old Sheriff Joe anymore. His glory and fame (or infamy - he enjoyed both) are now all in the past. He may not be going to jail, but his punishment will confine him more than any cell. He'll be imprisoned in ever-increasing obscurity.

He has already announced he is considering political office. No doubt fucking Trump has already promised him something

 

[Keith&Co.]

He has already announced he is considering political office.

At 85? I'd vote for him hoping the win would stop his heart....