Wednesday - May 10, 2006

Support Your Local Sheriff

If you’ve never heard of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, you’ve obviously been hiding under a rock for a long time. Sheriff Joe believes in “tough love” and he don’t take no crap off anyone. He made news long ago with his boot camp programs to rehabilitate juvenile criminals. He doesn’t believe in coddling prisoners either.

Now Sheriff Joe is giving them hell along the border ... and the illegal Mess-Cans don’t like it one bit. Let’s help Sheriff Joe and encourage other law enforcement personnel along our Souther border to do the same. If the lazy-assed Feds won’t protect our borders then our local law needs to step up and “git her done”.

Arizona Posse to Round Up Illegal Immigrants
_{May 10, 2006, 8:00 AM EDT}

GILA BEND, Ariz. (AP)—Four Mexican men sit in the dirt with their wrists bound, shoulders hunched and eyes lowered to avoid the glare of the rising sun. The immigrants had been on their way to build a dairy farm in this town about an hour southwest of Phoenix. But after a traffic stop for a faulty brake light, members of a sheriff’s task force targeting human and drug smugglers found they were not U.S. citizens. Now they were bound for federal custody.

Beginning Wednesday, more illegal immigrants coming through Maricopa County could meet the same fate as the sheriff’s department beefs up its efforts to find illegal immigrants. A 250-member posse that will operate similarly to the anti-smuggler task force will patrol the area for illegal immigrants who pay smugglers to cross through Arizona, the busiest illegal entry point along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border.

The posse will be made up of existing sheriff’s deputies and members of the department’s 3,000-member posse reserve of trained, unpaid volunteers. The four illegal immigrants pulled over Monday will be turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and sent back to Mexico. But those that are captured by the posse may end up in jail, charged under a state law that has been used against more than 100 illegal immigrants in Maricopa County this year.

The law made human smuggling a state crime in Arizona—it was already a federal crime—allowing local law enforcement agencies to arrest suspected smugglers. It was meant to crack down on smugglers, but under a disputed interpretation, County Attorney Andrew Thomas argues the law can be applied to the smuggled immigrants themselves.

Thomas maintains illegal immigrants who pay smugglers to enter the United States are committing conspiracy to smuggle and can therefore be prosecuted under the state law. The sheriff’s office began arresting illegal immigrants under that interpretation in March, and with the new posse, will continue doing so by patrolling desert areas and main roadways in the southwestern part of the county.

“I’m going to catch as many as I can and throw them in my jail,” said Sheriff Joe Arpaio. “And the jails are not that nice.”

It remains to be seen whether a judge will uphold the smuggling law as applicable to illegal immigrants. Lawyers for some arrested illegal immigrants have filed motions to have the charges dismissed. A Los Angeles attorney brought into the case by the Mexican Consul General’s Office in Phoenix filed another motion claiming Thomas and Arpaio are violating state and federal law and are using the conspiracy charges to control illegal immigration, which is the federal government’s job.

Arpaio said the motions don’t worry him. “I get sued when I go to the toilet. You think I’m worried about it?” he said. “If they think I’m going to slow down because of these threats, I’ve got news for them—I’m not going to slow down. I’ll do more of it.”

Alfredo Gutierrez, a Hispanic activist and former Democratic state senator, called Thomas’ interpretation of the law and Arpaio’s use of it “political pranks.” “Every act like this contributes to the angst and anger and desperation in our community,” Gutierrez said. Elias Bermudez, president of the pro-immigrant group Inmigrantes Sin Fronteras, or Immigrants Without Borders, questions the legality of the immigration posse itself.

“It is racial profiling,” he said. “They don’t follow guys that are blond and blue-eyed.” Bermudez said Arpaio is “a good criminal sheriff, but he needs to go out there and find criminals. He wants to go after the poor, undocumented immigrant who is hungry and thirsty in the desert. That is totally inhumane.”

Posted by The Skipper     on 05/10/2006 at 11:31 AM   
Filed Under: • Illegal-Aliens and Immigration •  
• Comments (8) • Trackbacks(1)  Permalink •  

DISCLAIMER

THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE HOSTS OF THIS SITE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS.

Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

THE INFORMATION AND OTHER CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE DESIGNED TO COMPLY WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS WEBSITE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL PARTIES IRREVOCABLY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THEN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ACCESSED BY PERSONS FROM THAT COUNTRY AND ANY PERSONS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO USE OUR SERVICES UNLESS THEY CAN SATISFY US THAT SUCH USE WOULD BE LAWFUL.

Copyright © 2004-2015 Domain Owner