When Metro Phoenix Was Out of Control

[rangerrebew]

When Metro Phoenix Was Out of Control
 
By Andrew R. Arthur on August 29, 2017

On Friday, August 25, 2017, President Trump pardoned former Maricopa County (Ariz.) Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who had been convicted of criminal contempt by U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton in Arizona on July 31, 2017. As the Washington Post described the matter:

    The case that led to former Sheriff Joe Arpaio's criminal conviction last month, and his pardon by President Trump on Friday night, began in 2007 with a traffic stop in Maricopa County, Ariz., and the wrongful nine-hour detention of a Mexican man holding a valid tourist's visa. The man sued Arpaio and the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, alleging racial profiling by deputies working for the most visible sheriff in America in a case that evolved into a class action suit for all Latino motorists in Maricopa County.

https://cis.org/Arthur/When-Metro-Phoenix-Was-Out-Control

[Jazzhead]

After four years of depositions and hearings and motions, a federal judge in Phoenix entered a preliminary injunction against Arpaio and the sheriff's office, noting that "states do not have the inherent authority to enforce the civil provisions of federal immigration law." He ordered Arpaio to stop detaining anyone not suspected of a state or federal crime — simply being in the United States illegally is not a crime, only a civil violation.

It is instructive to keep in mind that Arpaio went much further than anything the Trump administration has proposed with respect to immigration enforcement.    Trump wants local authorities to detain those who they pick up on suspicion of committing a local crime who have been identified as wanted for a federal crime. Arpaio just wanted to arrest folks for driving while Mexican.   That's chilling - imagine if you could be pulled over just for having a white face.