Maricopa Country, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio has long been the center of controversy in his approach to civil liberties and civil rights. Now he is pondering running for Governor of Arizona as a strong supporter of the recently enacted state illegal immigration law!
Arpaio has a tough image as a crime fighter in the Phoenix area, but has been accused of discrimination and civil rights abuses, which he brushes off.
His image as America’s toughest sheriff includes a recent raid which led to the arrest of 73 illegal immigrants; housing prisoners in tents, and making them wear pink underwear; and feeding them on less than a dollar a day!
Arpaio has faced charges of abusive practices by the Justice Department and the American Civil Liberties Union without being very upset about it.
Were he to run for Governor, it would further incite the issue of illegal immigration, and it is certain that were he to win the office, the issue would become much more confrontational than even the signing of the recent legislation by present Governor Jan Brewer!
With Arpaio’s approach and attitude of defying the federal government, he would be to Latinos and Hispanics what Governor George Wallace of Alabama was to African Americans and civil rights in the tumultuous decade of the 1960s! 🙁