Fair and balanced? Really?
Anybody who has been following my blog posts and comments, either on 1389 Blog, on 2.0: The Blogmocracy, or anywhere else, is probably aware of my dislike for the Fox News “fair and balanced” slogan. There is no middle ground between good and evil. There is no compromise between truth and falsehood. I am uninterested in “fair and balanced” reporting. As I’ve mentioned before, the devil already has plenty enough spokesmen, and spokeswomen too. What I want instead is the whole truth and nothing but. That is what I endeavor to provide in all of my blog posts and comments.
And yes, I have previously voiced my own complaints about Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona. Just for starters, a significant percentage of those who are arrested in any jurisdiction are actually innocent. The U.S. Constitution states that anyone accused of a crime is to be considered innocent until proven guilty. It is bad enough to be wrongfully arrested – and yes, that inevitably happens some of the time in every jurisdiction – without also being subjected to rough and physically uncomfortable treatment. Those who are past middle age and/or already suffering from various physical infirmities have reason to fear permanent bodily harm or death if detained in a hot desert “tent city” facility.
Evidently, only sentenced inmates are being held in the tent city; pre-trial detainees are held in the regular jail.
From their website:
The Tents Jail was begun in 1993 when Sheriff Joe Arpaio was able to obtain some surplus military tents. These tents were set up in an area adjacent to one of the existing Maricopa County Jails in Phoenix, Arizona. Sheriff Arpaio had previously decided that he would not release any inmates due to jail overcrowding, and housing sentenced inmates in the tents seemed a good solution.
Despite my prior misgivings, there is something important that Sheriff Joe Arpaio is doing right.
Immigration enforcement and Obozo’s stealth amnesty program
With the recent federal lawsuit against the State of Arizona for empowering their local and state law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration law, it has become painfully clear that the Obama administration wants an unrestricted flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S. The main reason for this is that the Obama regime sees them as an easily controlled and intimidated future voting bloc who will reliably support the leftist Democrat agenda. Naturally, the ICE employees who are charged with enforcing US immigration laws are disgusted with this.
Border agents vote ‘no confidence’ in ICE leadership (h/t doriangrey)
In an unprecedented move within Homeland Security special agents recently gave ICE leadership a “non confidence” vote.
The Center For Immigration Studies reported:
In an unprecedented move within the Department of Homeland Security, the special agents responsible for enforcing our nation’s immigration laws issued an exhaustive, scathing letter simply titled “VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE IN ICE DIRECTOR JOHN MORTON AND ODPP ASSISTANT DIRECTOR PHYLLIS COVEN” on June 11, 2010. The letter, acquired through sources, provides a litany of examples of how ICE’s mission is being skewed towards supporting an unflinching goal of amnesty by refusing to allow agents to do their job; allowing criminal aliens to roam free; depleting resources for key enforcement initiatives that preceded this administration; and misrepresenting facts and programs, demeaning the extent of the criminal alien problem and geared to support amnesty.
Read the rest.
What is Sheriff Joe Arpaio doing right?
Arpaio Responsible For 25% Of All U.S. Deportees Since 2007
Without the benefit of their state’s strict new immigration law, officers from a single Arizona county helped deport more than 26,000 immigrants from the U.S. through a federal-local partnership program that has been roundly criticized as fraught with problems.
Statistics obtained by The Associated Press show that the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office was responsible for deportations or forced departure of 26,146 immigrants since 2007.
That’s about a quarter of the national total of 115,841 sent out of the U.S. by officers in 64 law enforcement agencies deputized to help enforce immigration laws, some since 2006, under the so-called 287(g) program.
The tens of thousands of immigrant arrests show local officials already have a significant amount of authority to enforce immigration laws and help remove illegal immigrants from the country.
But with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio the top law officer among all those deputized, questions remain about what’s in store when Arizona gives more officers the power to enforce immigration laws. The federal government already is under fire for doing a poor job of keeping watch on local officers enforcing immigration laws and ensuring safeguards for protecting civil rights are in place.
…
Joanne Lin, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, said it is alarming that one Arizona county is responsible for a disproportionate share of deportations.
The Los Angeles County’s Sheriff’s Office, a distant second to Maricopa, helped find 13,784 immigrants who were later deported or left the country. The Sheriff’s Office’s agreement with the federal government allows it to check its jails for deportable immigrants, but not to enforce immigration laws during street patrols. A renewal of the agreement is under negotiation.
An estimated 10.8 million people, about 26 percent of the state’s population, are living illegally in California, compared with 460,000, about 12 percent, in Arizona.
“These statistics bear out that you have rogue sheriffs in certain counties that are bent on targeting immigrants,” Lin said.
Read the rest.
No, Ms. Lin, what’s alarming is that other sheriffs in other counties are FAILING to do their jobs in targeting those immigrants (some legal, but most not) who have brought about a major crime wave involving not only smuggling of human beings and other contraband, but also gang warfare, widespread property damage, rape, and just about everything else in the criminal code.
Here’s another Arizona sheriff with the right idea
Arizona Sheriff: ‘Our Own Government Has Become Our Enemy’
(CNSNews.com) – Pinal County (Ariz.) Sheriff Paul Babeu is hopping mad at the federal government.
Babeu told CNSNews.com that rather than help law enforcement in Arizona stop the hundreds of thousands of people who come into the United States illegally, the federal government is targeting the state and its law enforcement personnel.
“What’s very troubling is the fact that at a time when we in law enforcement and our state need help from the federal government, instead of sending help they put up billboard-size signs warning our citizens to stay out of the desert in my county because of dangerous drug and human smuggling and weapons and bandits and all these other things and then, behind that, they drag us into court with the ACLU,” Babeu said.
The sheriff was referring to the law suits filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the U.S. Department of Justice challenging the state’s new immigration law.
“So who has partnered with the ACLU?” Babeu said in a telephone interview with CNSNews.com. “It’s the president and (Attorney General) Eric Holder himself. And that’s simply outrageous.”
Read the rest.
