Maricopa County Sheriff Arpaio, the tough on-border issues sheriff in Arizona who sued President Obama for his executive order on amnesty, has been the target of a war by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). He is presently facing contempt of court for allegedly profiling illegal aliens.
Arpaio is being sued by the ACLU, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), and a law firm that Eric H. Holder, Jr. works for. Holder was a partner at the firm for six years prior to his appointment as U.S. Attorney General, and Holder returned to the firm after he left his post as Attorney General. The law firm has been reported as “a key player in the opposition to Arizona’s anti-illegal immigration law.”
Arpaio has criticized Holder for among other things, how he handled Operation Fast and Furious, and for not being a supporter of peace officers. Holder was held in contempt of Congress in June 2012 over the ATF’s Fast and Furious gun-running scandal. There were 255 House members who voted to hold the sitting Attorney General in contempt, including 17 Democrats. Holder and the DOJ would not comply with an October 2011 subpoena to turn over thousands of documents related to Operation Fast and Furious. Breitbart Texas has reported extensively about Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry who was slain in Arizona while on patrol. Two of the guns involved in the ambush were eventually tied to the Fast and Furious operation.
After two officers were shot execution-style in New York, Arpaio criticized New York Mayor Bill De Blasio and Attorney General Eric Holder. While on Breitart News Sunday with host Stephen K. Bannon, Arpaio said as to Holder, “I think if you are a cop supporter you won’t be investigating 19 to 20 police departments for alleged racial profiling.”
Arpaio has long been a critic and nemesis of President Obama. In June 2014, Breitbart TV reported that Arpaio told NewsMax TV that he believes Obama intentionally caused the current crisis of thousands of unaccompanied minors flooding across the U.S.-Mexico border to force “Congress to do something” or “shove some more executive orders down our throat.”
True to Arpaio’s very public prediction, Obama unveiled new policies in November 2014 which established DAPA (Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents) which allows over 4 million illegal aliens to be eligible for work authorization and related benefits. It also enlarged DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) that allows illegal immigrants who came into the country when they were children to apply for work authorization and be protected from deportation for three years.
In December 2014, Arpaio sued President Obama “to stop the president from ‘ramming’ new immigration policies ‘down the throats of the American people” and asked a federal judge to issue an injunction blocking Obama’s executive actions of “blanket amnesty,” as reported by ABC News and all the major news outlets. Arpaio’s lawyer, Larry Klayman, founder of the conservative organization Judicial Watch, told the judge in open court that Arpaio had been subject to bomb threats because of his public stance against illegal immigration and his promise to fight the president. As reported by Breitbart News in August, Arpaio responded to a Washington, D.C. federal appeals court judge throwing out his lawsuit against Obama’s executive actions by vowing “we’re going to the Supreme Court.” Klayman was reported to have called the ruling, “intellectually dishonest.”
“America’s toughest sheriff” has been criticized by open border proponents for being tough on illegal aliens and illegal immigration. Maricopa County is approximately 80 miles from the Arizona-Mexico border where illegal immigration, criminal illegal aliens, human trafficking, sex trafficking, and drug trafficking endangers Arizona residents. The sheriff first took office in 1992 and while he has been reelected to an unprecedented six 4-year terms, open border proponents have worked very hard to stop him.
The federal judge in the contempt case against Arpaio even refused to recuse himself after his wife allegedly told an old acquaintance that her husband “hates” Sheriff Arpaio and “will do anything to get [him] out of office.” In July, Judge Murray Snow announced he had no intention of stepping down and ordered U.S Marshals to go to Arpaio’s office to seize documents and computer hard drives.
Moreover, Breitbart Texas Managing Director Brandon Darby wrote an article in early October entitled “Left Media Just Can’t Stop Trashing Sheriff Joe Arpaio – For Doing His Job.” He wrote, “Mainstream media, forever loyal to ‘the fight,’ has taken up the joint DOJ/ACLU effort and consistently delivers dehumanizing mockery and disrespect to the sheriff’s plate.” “The fight” he writes, is the “flow of millions of future Democratic Party voters.”
As reported in Breitbart News and Politico, illegal immigrants, along with other noncitizens who do not have the right to vote, may pick the 2016 presidential winner “[t]hanks to the unique math undergirding the Electoral College.” As reported, these 11-12 million illegal immigrants and other noncitizens may enable them to swing the election.
Lana Shadwick is a contributing writer and legal analyst for Breitbart Texas. She has served as a prosecutor and an associate judge. Follow her on Twitter@LanaShadwick2
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