Federal Grand Jury Targets ‘Tough-Guy’ Sheriff
- America’s self-proclaimed “toughest” sheriff Joe Arpaio is facing a grand jury investigation into allegations of abuse of power. Latino and civil rights activists hope the investigation will have reverberations on the way he conducts immigration enforcement in Maricopa County.
- Finally, the Law Goes After Joe Arpaio -- the Most Abusive Sheriff In America
- Chained Immigrants on Parade
Valeria Fernández, New America Media
Submitted by Evergreene Digest Contributing Editor Ken Mitchell
America’s self-proclaimed “toughest” sheriff Joe Arpaio is facing a grand jury investigation into allegations of abuse of power.
The Maricopa County sheriff has made national headlines because of his immigration sweeps on Latino neighborhoods and a pending investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice into racial profiling allegations.
But that’s not the focus of the recent criminal investigation.
“Racial profiling is the least of his problems right now,” said Lydia Guzmán, president of the Somos America coalition, a civil rights group in Arizona that has filed a civil lawsuit against his office on the matter.
Guzmán and other immigrant rights activists applauded the investigation as a positive step to bring to an end what she described as “Arpaio’s reign of terror” on immigrant communities. Yet, she recognized that the scope of the grand jury investigation most likely involved other allegations of abuse of power and misuse of federal funds.
Related:
Finally, the Law Goes After Joe Arpaio -- the Most Abusive Sheriff In America, Emptywheel, Firedoglake, in AlterNet
The House Judiciary Committee made a critical and public step to rein in a terrible Arizona "lawman."
Chained Immigrants on Parade, Casey Sanchez, Southern Poverty Law Center's (SPLC) Hate Watch
- The media devoured a blatant and dehumanizing publicity stunt orchestrated by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
- Who Will Stand Up to the Sick Antics of a Racist Sheriff?
