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Sheriff Arpaio conducted another crime suppression operation in Fountain Hills on Tuesday. A total of seven traffic stops and fourteen contacts were made throughout a seven-hour patrol period. This resulted in ten arrests, nine of them being of undocumented immigrants, and three felony warrants cleared.

How the heck could we get this guy to run for President? SERIOUSLY! Maricopa County, Arizona was spending approx. $18 million dollars a year on stray animals, like cats and dogs. Sheriff Joe didn’t take over the county animal shelter, he started his own. The jail, which once housed inmates, was empty after the tent cities were built. Now the facility has become an animal shelter, housing 200 dogs and cats. The horses, which “do not fit in the cells,” are kept in the tents with the inmates. Sheriff Joe noted, “The women prisoners take care of the cats and...

PHOENIX — State lawmakers are trying to resurrect a law designed to keep those in the country illegally from carrying firearms. The proposal by House Speaker Jim Weiers, R-Phoenix, says all foreigners in this country are forbidden from having guns. But there would be exceptions allowing permanent legal residents and some visitors, such as hunters and target shooters, to be armed. Shoppers, tourists and other temporary visitors from foreign countries, however, would be prohibited. That's what lawmakers thought they were enacting four years ago when they adopted a statute that essentially piggy-backed Arizona law onto federal statutes that deal with...

A felony conviction and subsequent deportation didn’t stop Manuel Enrique Morales from crossing the border to return to Mesa, where police allege he and others terrorized victims with an assault rifle in a series of home invasions. This time, though, the 19-year-old illegal immigrant is going to stay awhile because police jailed him and five alleged accomplices in the spree of armed robberies that span from Nov. 16-29. Home invasions were becoming so rampant in Mesa in recent months that police formed a special task force to address the problem, which they believed was the work of as many as...

A group has pledged to spend about $1,000 to gather hundreds of thousands of signatures in an effort to recall Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and County Attorney Andrew Thomas. The Arizonans for the U.S. Constitution and Recall of Joe Arpaio, filed paperwork Oct. 29 to recall the county's top law enforcement officials, according to county records. According the documents, the group has pledged to spend less than $500 on each of the two recalls - a small amount money considering size of the task. The organization will have to collect 283,300 valid signatures from registered voters in Maricopa County...

A red-faced and angry Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas on Tuesday blasted a local news organization for publishing a story on its Web site that includes links to his home address and information about his family. KPNX-TV (Channel 12) reporter Brahm Resnik posted a story on azcentral.com discussing how easy it is for the public to find detailed information about public officials, including their home addresses. Arizona Republic Editor Ward Bushee said the newspaper, which controls the Web site for itself and the TV station, agreed to alter the story following Thomas’ complaints, removing the link to the county’s Web...

Immigrant rights protesters were back in front of Pruitt's furniture store near 36th Street and Thomas Road Tuesday morning. They claim the owner of the store hired Maricopa County sheriff's deputies to patrol against day laborers last Saturday. It appears the sheriff's office believed that protests planned for the site were supposed to begin that day.

Most of the chain e-mails I receive, I delete. Occasionally I read one that appears to be humorous or interesting. My mother sent me one titled SHERIFF JOE IS AT IT AGAIN. This e-mail, while not humorous, is definitely interesting. The chain e-mail is about Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the operation he runs in Maricopa County, Ariz. The e-mail says the inmates live in tent cities, there are female chain gangs and inmates eat brown-bag lunches. I had received Sheriff Joe e-mails before, as had my husband, and we always dismissed them as urban legend, amazing, entertaining, but certainly not...

Inside America's toughest jail  Grim ... Tent City in ArizonaPictures: MARK PETERMAN       From HARRY MACADAM in ArizonaApril 28, 2007           HIGH above the Arizona desert, a pink neon sign flashes the word “vacancy” from a watch tower manned by armed guards.  Surrounded by 25ft barbed wire fences, this is the welcome offered by America’s toughest jail — Tent City in Phoenix.Inside, nearly 1,000 prisoners live in army surplus tents, baking in temperatures of 122°F (50°C) in summer and freezing during winter.No matter how many criminals are locked up here, the vacancy sign is never...

PHOENIX -- Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio denied reports that an informant about a death plot against him had been discredited and said the investigation into the threat remained open. Arpaio spoke on the "Jay Lawrence Show" on FM NewsTalk 92-3 about the informant's claims that the Minutemen were going to pay $3 million to have the sheriff killed by a Mexican drug cartel to inflame the already-hot illegal immigration issue. While almost all of the information provided by the informant turned out to be bogus, Arpaio said the informant knew some details about his life. "How would he know...

Deputies with the Maricopa County sheriff's office raided the Cave Creek, Arizona, home of rapper DMX on Friday morning (August 24), and according to a police spokesperson, 12 pit bulls were removed from the residence, all in bad condition. Police would not get into specifics but did say the animals are being tended to by veterinarians. At this point, DMX (real name: Earl Simmons) has not been officially charged with any crime, but police are still investigating. DMX was not at his home at the time of the raid, during which police also discovered a large cache of weapons. Police...

The FBI has joined the search for an illegal immigrant murder suspect mistakenly released from Maricopa County Jail. Court records indicate 22-year-old Ruben Perez Rivera may have fled to Utah after allegedly stabbing his cousin, 22-year-old Theodore Perez. A criminal complaint filed in federal court alleges Perez fled to avoid a charge of second-degree murder filed in Maricopa County Superior Court on March 30th. That's the day a warrant was issued for his arrest. The Tribune reports the slow movement of court paperwork allowed for the release of Rivera from a Maricopa County jail March 16th to immigration officials and...

J.D. Hayworth, who ended up on the short end of the vote count on election night, refused to concede defeat in his re-election bid for Arizona’s 5th Congressional District on Wednesday. the six-term Republican said he planned to wait out the final count. Election officials said more than 250,000 ballots cast in Maricopa County have yet to be counted. They were unable to immediately determine how many of those ballots were from the 5th district, which includes Scottsdale, Tempe, Ahwatukee Foothills, Fountain Hills and surrounding areas.

PHOENIX — An Arizona sheriff known for his tough jail policies is offering basic English classes to inmates who don't speak the language. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said the language barrier has caused problems for his jail officers and even prompted complaints from English-speaking prisoners. "They are in the United States, and they should start speaking English," said Arpaio, who is known for making inmates wear pink underwear and take part in old-style chain gangs in striped uniforms. Arpaio said the inmates are so eager to learn English that there's a waiting list for the two-week courses, which began...

(AP) TONOPAH, Ariz. About 100 illegal immigrants were rescued from the desert about 50 miles west of Phoenix, many suffering from dehydration and exhaustion after triple-digit heat. Seven immigrants and three sheriff's deputies were taken to hospitals after the rescues late Tuesday, said Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Officers used a helicopter, canine units, all-terrain vehicles and foot patrols to find them. The immigrants told authorities that three people had died, but Kempher said no bodies had been found. Deputies were pulled out of the desert when night fell, said sheriff's Sgt. Jim Kempher. They left water behind and posted...

A man was arrested in Canada on suspicion of threatening the sheriff of Arizona's most populous county and his family, authorities said. Canadian authorities took Matthew Carl Sanderson, 37, into custody Friday although he since has been released. A spokeswoman for Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said detectives were going to sift through Sanderson's computer and other evidence obtained in a search of his Toronto home to determine his motive, what charges to bring and whether he should be extradited to Arizona or prosecuted in Canada. The threat came in an e-mail June 2 through the sheriff's Web site, said...

MEXICAN GOVERNMENT GIVES INSTRUCTIONS, AND MONEY TO ILLEGALS AS THEY ENTER THE US Randy L. Harrington Randy L. Harrington July 7, 2006 PHOENIX—Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio says that his deputies have not made one illegal alien arrest in two weeks. The Mexican Consulate is briefing illegal aliens, and providing them with US cash, and intelligence data designed to defeat Sheriff Arpaio's efforts to combat illegal immigration. Salvadore Enriquez is an illegal alien who arrived in Chandler, Arizona two weeks ago. He has been working steadily from a street corner in Chandler doing day labor jobs. Enriquez said that in...

2,000 inmates already are in two tent facilities PHOENIX - Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio wants 11 more large tents to house an influx of illegal immigrants. --

A judge on Friday upheld an Arizona law that made immigrant smuggling a state crime, rejecting arguments that it was never intended to target immigrants _ only the human traffickers they hire. Judge Thomas O'Toole said there was no evidence that lawmakers "intended to exclude any prosecution for conspiracy to commit human smuggling." Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas has used the law to charge more than 200 people, most of them immigrants accused of paying to be smuggled into Arizona. Defense lawyers and the law's author said it was intended to apply only to smugglers. Defense attorneys also called it...

Four Mexicans accused of sneaking across the border pleaded guilty Tuesday under a new state law targeting immigrant smugglers. They were among the first 48 alleged customers of smugglers to be charged as conspirators to the crime. The four, who pleaded guilty to solicitation to commit immigrant smuggling, were sentenced to two years supervised probation and expected to face deportation proceedings. Critics say the law was intended to be used against smugglers, not their customers. Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas has said the customers of smugglers need to be held accountable. In all, 19 of the 48 have pleaded guilty...

Nine of 48 illegal immigrants charged with conspiracy to smuggle humans — themselves — pleaded guilty to lesser charges Tuesday and will be deported under an agreement with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. They join four other immigrants who recently agreed to the deal, pleading guilty to solicitation to smuggle. In addition to deportation, the border crossers were placed on two years of probation. The 48 immigrants were the first in the county to be charged with conspiracy to smuggle humans — a unique interpretation of a state law aimed at cracking down on coyotes, who are paid by immigrants...

Maricopa County Attorney Files Federal Lawsuit to End Race-Based DUI CourtsCites Statistics Showing Defendants Are Treated More Harshly in Non-Race-Based CourtsMaricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas today announced he has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Phoenix to end Maricopa County’s separate DUI courts for Spanish-speaking and Native American DUI felons. His office also released a study which found evidence of discrimination in sentencing: Offenders in General DUI Court receive more than twice the average jail sentence that offenders receive in Hispanic DUI Court. “Maricopa County’s race-based courts are unconstitutional and must be ended,” Thomas said. “Our criminal justice...

The Board of Directors of the Flood Control District of Maricopa County (District) adopted a revised Resolution in 2003 for the buyout of floodprone homes called the Floodprone Properties Acquisition Program (Program). District staff is in the process of moving forward with the Program as a potential alternative for homes where structural solutions are not feasible to provide mitigation from flooding. The Program is voluntary and is open only to homeowners whose residence is located within a delineated floodway or floodplain. The informational brochure which can be downloaded below, will help homeowners determine their eligibility. If you believe your home...

Convicts were forced to march to a new top-security jail — wearing just pink underpants and flip-flops to deter escape bids. Prison bosses reckoned the 700 hardmen would be too embarrassed to go on the run in gay-style garb. Muscle-bound, tattooed thugs were linked with pink handcuffs for the two-mile hike. And when they reached the new clink in Phoenix, Arizona, one con had to cut a pink ribbon to open it. Tough Sheriff Joe Arpaio said: “I put them on the street so everybody could see them. They can see this is what happens to people who break the...

Ninth Circuit Rejects Jail Use of Webcams by ‘Toughest Sheriff’   By KENNETH OFGANG, Staff Writer/Appellate Courts   The use of cameras to broadcast over the Internet images of detainees being booked into a Phoenix jail, and being held in temporary cells, was properly enjoined as a probable due process violation, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday. A divided panel affirmed a preliminary injunction barring Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio—who often refers to himself as “America’s Toughest Sheriff”—from using the webcams at the Madison Street Jail. “We get people booked in for murder all the way down...

On September 19, 1997, the New York Times announced the discovery of a group of earthen mounds in northeastern Louisiana. The site, known as Watson Brake, includes 11 mounds 26 feet high linked by low ridges into an oval 916 feet long. What is remarkable about this massive complex is that it was built around 3400 B.C., more than 3,000 years before the development of farming communities in eastern North America, by hunter-gatherers, at least partly mobile, who visited the site each spring and summer to fish, hunt, and collect freshwater mussels... Social complexity cannot exist unless I it...

<p>QUEEN CREEK, Arizona (CNN) -- A "deadly" weapons cache was uncovered in an Arizona storage facility Thursday by agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, an agency spokesman said.</p> <p>"There is a large cache of military firearms, including explosives, machine guns, a bazooka, a flame thrower," said a spokesman for the ATF in Phoenix. A Russian rocket-propelled grenade launcher also was seized.</p>

For a longer version of this article, see www.intellectualconservative.com/article1005.html When asked their opinion of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, most critics dutifully repeat the clichéd mantra - he is a publicity hound, and he is violating inmates’ rights by treating them brutally. Yet when asked to expound, most people cannot explain in legal terms how inmates’ rights are being violated. The truth is that only a very few inmates in Arpaio’s jails have been seriously harmed while fighting law enforcement who were trying to restrain them. In fact, these numbers are comparable to numbers in other county jails around the country. Furthermore,...