| BARRIOZONA |
| Bilingual Community Expression Published by the Hispanic Institute of Social Issues |
| Sheriff Arpaio's Second Weekend of Anti-Immigrant Sweeps Assailed |
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio issued a news release last
week claiming that business owners wanted him to combat
purported crimes near the intersections mentioned above, but
he produced only two business people to back him up. The
ensuing six-square-mile hunt for undocumented persons went
far and inexplicably beyond 32nd Street and Thomas. The
Phoenix Police Department reports that the area targeted for
last week’s sweeps has experienced a steady decline in crime
during the last ten years. Arpaio was forced to admit that the
“crime wave” he was battling was limited to the offenses of
alleged “loitering, littering and petty theft,” hardly the kind of
public safety threat capable of justifying the expenditure of
tens of thousands of dollars in manpower and equipment to
do nothing more than stop cars for minor traffic infractions.
And as for the low-level “crimes” he contends were scourging
the community, Arpaio provided no reports nor documentary
evidence that they had ever occurred.
week claiming that business owners wanted him to combat
purported crimes near the intersections mentioned above, but
he produced only two business people to back him up. The
ensuing six-square-mile hunt for undocumented persons went
far and inexplicably beyond 32nd Street and Thomas. The
Phoenix Police Department reports that the area targeted for
last week’s sweeps has experienced a steady decline in crime
during the last ten years. Arpaio was forced to admit that the
“crime wave” he was battling was limited to the offenses of
alleged “loitering, littering and petty theft,” hardly the kind of
public safety threat capable of justifying the expenditure of
tens of thousands of dollars in manpower and equipment to
do nothing more than stop cars for minor traffic infractions.
And as for the low-level “crimes” he contends were scourging
the community, Arpaio provided no reports nor documentary
evidence that they had ever occurred.
| Press Release - March 26, 2008 35th Street and Thomas Committee |
What will happen this weekend will be more of the same, again under the pseudo-justification that business
owners want him to crack down on loitering and littering. His deputies will once again destroy weekend business,
because so many members of the community will stay home, terrified to go anywhere. The undocumented will be
shut-in for fear of being arrested and deported, and U.S. citizen Latinos will venture out less for fear of being
racially profiled, stopped for being brown. Business owners, far from appreciating the attendant loss of revenue,
will rue Arapio’s grandstanding at their expense.
Besides the charade of a handful of business people who were approached by Arpaio’s agents to say they want
him in the area, this weekend’s sweeps will again fail to connect the stated “crimes” of loitering, littering and pretty
theft with the singular activity of the Sheriff’s deputies, which is to pull over motorists. Stopping good people for
cracked windshields or failure to put on a turn-signal are hyper-technical traffic code infractions; however, the
exercise WILL NOT NET A SINGLE LOITERER, LITTERER NOR ANYONE COMMITTING PETTY THEFT. Arpaio’s (1)
deceitful claim that business people want him to destabilize several square miles of the city plus (2) the inane
excuse that deputies will put a stop to trifling offenses, ones cannot be prevented by harassing automobile drivers,
expose what is really going on.
What is really going on is the aggressive stopping of motorists at saturation levels in areas known to have high
concentrations of Latinos. During daylight hours, the deputies focus on pulling over cars having brown-looking
people within. Then the interrogation begins about citizenship. When cars are pulled over at night and brown
people are encountered inside, deputies immediately demand to know their citizenship, even before addressing the
reason for the stop. Drivers who appear to be Anglo are not interrogated about citizenship or immigration status,
are cited and let go. Undocumented persons, who do not know their rights and think they have to answer
questions about where they were born and whether they have “papers,” get deported.
owners want him to crack down on loitering and littering. His deputies will once again destroy weekend business,
because so many members of the community will stay home, terrified to go anywhere. The undocumented will be
shut-in for fear of being arrested and deported, and U.S. citizen Latinos will venture out less for fear of being
racially profiled, stopped for being brown. Business owners, far from appreciating the attendant loss of revenue,
will rue Arapio’s grandstanding at their expense.
Besides the charade of a handful of business people who were approached by Arpaio’s agents to say they want
him in the area, this weekend’s sweeps will again fail to connect the stated “crimes” of loitering, littering and pretty
theft with the singular activity of the Sheriff’s deputies, which is to pull over motorists. Stopping good people for
cracked windshields or failure to put on a turn-signal are hyper-technical traffic code infractions; however, the
exercise WILL NOT NET A SINGLE LOITERER, LITTERER NOR ANYONE COMMITTING PETTY THEFT. Arpaio’s (1)
deceitful claim that business people want him to destabilize several square miles of the city plus (2) the inane
excuse that deputies will put a stop to trifling offenses, ones cannot be prevented by harassing automobile drivers,
expose what is really going on.
What is really going on is the aggressive stopping of motorists at saturation levels in areas known to have high
concentrations of Latinos. During daylight hours, the deputies focus on pulling over cars having brown-looking
people within. Then the interrogation begins about citizenship. When cars are pulled over at night and brown
people are encountered inside, deputies immediately demand to know their citizenship, even before addressing the
reason for the stop. Drivers who appear to be Anglo are not interrogated about citizenship or immigration status,
are cited and let go. Undocumented persons, who do not know their rights and think they have to answer
questions about where they were born and whether they have “papers,” get deported.
Photographs by Eduardo Barraza / Barriozona
While Arpaio uses artless excuses for the
traffic sweeps, his real purpose is to arrest
and deport undocumented immigrants,
persons who are not criminals, much less
felons. If guilty of any crime, it is the petty
misdemeanor offense under 8 U.S.C. §1325(a)
of entering the U.S. without authorization.
This is a petty offense less dangerous to the
public order than the misdemeanor crime of
exceeding the speed limit by more than 20
miles per hour. Speeding can kill, and we are
all guilty of speeding. In contrast, entering
the country to work at low wages has
contributed mightily to the nation’s economy
and is just barely an offense.
The people are entitled to have a true lawman
for Sheriff, someone who goes after real
criminals, not gardeners, cooks, nannies and
pregnant mothers. America’s “toughest
sheriff” must stop making mothers and fathers
disappear in the middle of the night, callously
leaving vulnerable, terrorized children at home
alone. He can turn a new leaf and start
protecting the public by serving the county’s
70,000 arrest warrants that he has allowed to
remain outstanding.
traffic sweeps, his real purpose is to arrest
and deport undocumented immigrants,
persons who are not criminals, much less
felons. If guilty of any crime, it is the petty
misdemeanor offense under 8 U.S.C. §1325(a)
of entering the U.S. without authorization.
This is a petty offense less dangerous to the
public order than the misdemeanor crime of
exceeding the speed limit by more than 20
miles per hour. Speeding can kill, and we are
all guilty of speeding. In contrast, entering
the country to work at low wages has
contributed mightily to the nation’s economy
and is just barely an offense.
The people are entitled to have a true lawman
for Sheriff, someone who goes after real
criminals, not gardeners, cooks, nannies and
pregnant mothers. America’s “toughest
sheriff” must stop making mothers and fathers
disappear in the middle of the night, callously
leaving vulnerable, terrorized children at home
alone. He can turn a new leaf and start
protecting the public by serving the county’s
70,000 arrest warrants that he has allowed to
remain outstanding.
| Leaders from the civil rights and Latino communities will gather for a news conference in Downtown Phoenix |
Arpaio issued a news release last week claiming that business
owners wanted him to combat purported crimes near the
intersections mentioned above, but he produced only two business
people to back him up.
owners wanted him to combat purported crimes near the
intersections mentioned above, but he produced only two business
people to back him up.
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