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Phoenix, Arizona – Reverend Al Sharpton believes Arizona can be as “equal as everyone else when it comes to civil rights.”
That is, when Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio “is out of town.”
The statement was made during his October 16 visit to Phoenix, Arizona, where he was a speaker at a civil rights forum
organized by ASU's Center of Community Development and Civil Rights.
Referring to Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s controversial “crime sweeps,” Sharpton told a crowd of about 200 hundred people, “You
cannot be a law enforcer and a law breaker at the same time.” He also sent a message to the Sheriff: “...The Civil War is
over and the federal government won.”
Sharpton joined Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Phoenix, and civil rights veteran Latino leader Raul Yzaguirre, to be part of the
forum that addressed other aspects of civil rights in Arizona.
Sharton and Arpaio met last June amid protests. Police maintained a heavy presence when heated arguments among
Sheriff’s opponents and supporters erupted in verbal confrontations that stirred up the volatile social environment Phoenix
has been witnessing in the last few years.
Sharpton’s visit on October 16 happened on the same day when a defiant Arpaio conducted yet another of his department’
s controversial sweeps that have drawn his department sharp criticism and praise, protests and counter protests,
lawsuits and more support.
When it comes to his Memoranda of Agreement with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE,) the sheriff’s modus
operandi has also attracted an investigation by the Department of Justice, and just recently, the loss of his street patrol
287 (g) enforcement power taken away by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The Sheriff’s Department has been accused of practicing racial profiling and other civil rights violations, as his deputies
and posse target motorists with certain characteristics in almost entirely Latino-populated areas.
Arpaio’s 12th crime suppression sweep in Maricopa County came on the same day when Assistant Secretary for U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) John Morton announced standardized Memorandums of Agreement (MOAs)
with 67 state and local law enforcement agencies to participate in 287(g) partnerships.
According to Morton’s announcement, “state and local law enforcement partnerships conform to the standardized 287(g)
MOA announced by Department of Homeland.” DHL immigration enforcement’s strategy seeks to align “local operations
with ICE’s major priorities, specifically the identification and removal of criminal aliens.”
As DHL made this announcement and Sharpton was in Phoenix just blocks away where an anti-sheriff’s small protest
was taking place, Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department (MCSO) was moving forward with their characteristic two-day
“crime suppression operation” in Northwest Phoenix.
MCSO’s operation was deployed even with the federal government’s decision to limit their capability on the streets as of
October 16. Later in a press release, the Sheriff announced that Friday and Saturday’s operation incorporated “all aspects
of illegal immigration laws such as employer sanctions, human smuggling, and crime suppression.”
The press release also stated deputies will add a new tactic during this type of operations: special teams with cameras to
video tape deputies as they interact with the public, a move aimed to counteract protesters’ own videotaping of MCSO’s
raids.
According to MCSO’s information, the two-day operation “netted the arrest of 66 suspects, 30 of which were suspected of
being in the country illegally.” Deputies turned over a total of 19 of the 30 suspected illegal aliens who were not charged for
any state violations to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials without incident.
MCSO also conducted a raid as part of an Arizona state employer sanctions law at “On Your Way Carwash and Quick
Lube,” a car-wash business in Peoria, Arizona, supposedly based on information that led to an investigation about car-
wash employees engaging in identity theft. Nine suspects were arrested during the raid.
Copyright © 2009 Hispanic Institute of Social Issues
Grassroots Journalism
www.barriozona.com
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“You cannot be a law enforcer and a law breaker at the same time,” the civil rights leader said about Joe
Arpaio’s immigration sweeps.
By Eduardo Barraza
BARRIOZONA
October 19, 2009
Reverend Sharpton: Arizona an Equal Place When
Maricopa Sheriff Joe Arpaio “Is Out of Town”