Free Republic

The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office reports that at least a dozen undocumented immigrants have been detained after wandering near a US Air Force Base in southwestern Arizona Sunday. Sheriff's deputies are working with border patrol agents and DPS officers in an effort to locate five to seven more undocumented immigrants who are believed to be in the area of the Barry M. Goldwater Range about 13 miles south of Gila Bend. Two undocumented immigrants have died, likely from dehydration, according to MCSO. The range, which is active with armed military aircraft, has been shut down as authorities search for other...

Since Arizona’s local law enforcement began enforcing illegal immigration laws and an employer sanctions law went into effect, illegal immigrants have been fleeing the state in large numbers. The effects have been far-ranging. Commuters are reporting fewer vehicles on the freeways, shortening their rush-hour commutes. What had become a serious transportation problem in Arizona is losing its urgency. English Learner Language (ELL) students started dropping out of school. This helped end a confrontation between the state legislature and a liberal federal judge who had ordered the state to spend more money on ELL classes. Fewer illegal immigrants are using hospital...

In a rare move late Thursday, Maricopa County Sheriff’s deputies arrested two leaders of the largest alternative newspaper chain in the nation, Villiage Voice Media, because of a story published earlier in the day by the company-owned Phoenix New Times. Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin, the executive editor and CEO, respectively, of Village Voice Media, were arrested at their homes on suspicion of violating grand jury secrecy, said sheriff’s spokesman Capt. Paul Chagolla. The two, who together started New Times in 1970, were the authors of Thursday’s cover story revealing that a special prosecutor, retained by the county attorney’s office,...

The county sheriff said he won't disconnect a hot line he created for people to report information about illegal immigrants that has been decried as promoting ethnic profiling. ADVERTISEMENT Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio stressed Wednesday that deputies would investigate people only if authorities had probable cause.

Sheriff to Bar Illegals from Visiting County Jail Inmates July 27th, 2007 @ 6:49am by Bob McClay/KTAR The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office is developing system designed to keep illegal immigrants from visiting county jail inmates. Sheriff's deputies would do background checks on every one who comes for a jail visit. "We will be looking at some type of procedure where we identify illegals coming into the jail. They won't be able to come in." When someone comes to the jail to visit an inmate, they're required to show ID. Arpaio says the background check will be completed before their next...

PHOENIX - Latino leaders and faith-based organizations want Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to disconnect the hotline he created for people to report information about undocumented immigrants, saying it raises the chance of racial profiling. But Arpaio said Wednesday that he won't disconnect the hotline and stressed that deputies would investigate people only if authorities had probable cause. The hotline began last Friday and has received about 300 messages, which include tips about family and friends, employment, day laborers, drop houses and crank calls. Arpaio said officials are analyzing the tips and officials have not acted on any of the...

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said on Wednesday he is close to striking an agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement that would allow some of his officers to enforce federal immigration laws. Arpaio told the Tribune of his future plans the same day a group of activists announced they had filed a federal classaction lawsuit against Arpaio and County Attorney Andrew Thomas accusing them of wrongfully using the state’s anti-smuggling law to enforce immigration. In recent months, Arpaio and ICE representatives have been meeting to negotiate the conditions of an agreement. Arpaio said he wants about 200 of his deputy...

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...

The federal government may not be doing much when it comes to illegal immigration, but Arizona’s Maricopa County Attorney and Sheriff are. The top two criminal law enforcement officials in Arizona have teamed up to arrest and prosecute illegal immigrants crossing the border into Arizona using a new state human smuggling law, and the courts agree. Arizona is the first state in the nation to pass a law against human smuggling. Following the legal advice of Maricopa County’s tough on crime prosecutor Andrew Thomas, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio began arresting illegal immigrants under the new law and referring them...

INTERFERENCE BY MEXICO PROTESTED Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas Asks State Department to Intervene In a letter of protest to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, County Attorney Andrew Thomas today accused the government of Mexico of interfering in the internal affairs of Arizona by attempting to void Arizona’s Human Smuggling statute, which was enacted by a bipartisan majority of legislators and signed into law by Governor Janet Napolitano. In an attempt to undermine Arizona law Los Angeles lawyer Peter Schey, at the request of Carlos Flores-Vizcarra, Consul General of Mexico, has filed legal motions intended to thwart the prosecution of...

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio announced that approximately 100 volunteer posse and Sheriff's Deputies will soon begin randomly patrolling the desert areas and main roadways in southwest Maricopa County as a part of an operation to curb the flow of illegal immigrants entering the county. Arpaio made the announced just as 11 more illegal immigrants were being booked in jail after a Ford Windstar with California plates and 16 people packed inside was stopped by a Sheriff's deputy early Tuesday morning on a traffic violation near Gila Bend. Despite the growing controversy about illegal aliens nationwide, the Maricopa County Sheriff's...

Almost 43 years after Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, “separate but equal” still exists in Maricopa County, Arizona.Under the guise of multiculturalism, the Presiding Judge of the Maricopa County Superior Court, Barbara Mundell, has set up separate race-based courts for defendants convicted of aggravated DUI’s. Defendants who speak Spanish are sent to their own Hispanic court, which is conducted by Judge Mundell in Spanish. Prosecutors, defense attorneys, probation officers, and members of the public must ask for headphones, if available, to have the proceedings translated into English. Very little is recorded, so it...

Maricopa County residents will start paying a new property tax this fall The Maricopa Special Health Care District Board last month approved the maximum $40 million levy, which means a typical homeowner could see about $26 in additional taxes for a $200,000 home.

HE IS THE MARICOPA ARIZONA COUNTY SHERIFF AND HE KEEPS GETTING ELECTED OVER AND OVER. THIS IS ONE OF THE REASONS WHY: Sheriff Joe Arpaio (in Arizona) who created the "tent city jail": He has jail meals down to 40 cents a serving and charges the inmates for them. He stopped smoking and porno magazines in the jails. Took away their weights. Cut off all but "G" movies. He started chain gangs so the inmates could do free work on county and city projects. Then he started chain gangs for women so he wouldn't get sued for discrimination. He...

Joe Arpaio is putting Dogs in Jail. Jack Gillum wrote an article for the The Arizona Republic Which we are not allowed to post in whole or in part. so heres my summary of a very interesting story that you should take a look at... Sheriff Joe Arpaio's is opening one of Maricopa's County jails for the housing of dogs and cats, scheduled for euthanasia. He has moved inmates from the jail years ago to outdoor tents, in the 115-120 degree heat, and is using that same space to house the dogs and cats. The sheriff says the dogs and...

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...

That's what a group led by the well-connected family of one of Arpaio's own injured deputies is working to see happen. Yeah, he won still another term in the November general election, but there's reason for hope that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's days in office may be numbered. This just in: A recall committee that includes several prominent defense attorneys and the founders of the political action group Mothers Against Arpaio plans to launch a Recall Joe Arpaio campaign to coincide with a PBS television special critical of the sheriff scheduled to air in early March.

Anyone BUT Joe Arpaio On Friday the AP reported on the frightening state of female inmates' access to reproductive rights. In particular, a case in Phoenix, Arizona has been drawing national attention. Turns out that the anti-choice Sherriff of Maricopa County, Joe Arpaio, is refusing to transport pregnant inmates to abortion clinics unless they obtain a court order. He claims that he doesn't "run a taxi service from jail to an abortion clinic and back," and feels that he should have the right to stop these women from accessing abortions. (Did I also that this is the same asshole who...

A British stockbroker in jail in the United States has been lifting the lid on a controversial prison regime through a compelling weblog. He forces inmates to wear pink underpants, puts women on chain gangs and brags that it costs more to feed the guard dogs than the prisoners he oversees. No surprise then that sheriff Joe Arpaio is often called America's "toughest sheriff". But while his hardline tactics have won him plenty of admirers among the voting public of Maricopa county, Arizona, they have outraged human rights campaigners. Now, as sheriff Arpaio seeks re-election to his job, few would...

Maricopa County’s health system has lost as much as $129 million because of severe financial miscalculations and a broken computer billing system, county officials revealed Wednesday. The shortfall will be paid by taxpayers. State auditors and former administrators at the Maricopa Integrated Health System failed to spot the money drain, despite warning signs that the system was headed for financial turmoil, said David Smith, the county’s administrative officer. "This isn’t how it should be working," Smith said. Consultants estimate that the health system has lost between $82 million and $129 million over the past several years. County officials say they...

Voters beware. All of the Maricopa County Supervisors are up for re-election this year, and I for one can’t wait to vote for any opponent running against the supervisor in my district. I would also feel that way if I lived in the districts of Supervisors Brock, Stapley, or Wilcox, all of whom were the subject of a front page story in the Arizona Republic regarding their cell phone usage and taxpayer money. Basically, all 3 supervisors have not been following the policy that every county employee is expected to follow with respect to reimbursing the county for personal calls...

What do the St. Louis Rams' football team and Tom Liddy have in common? Both were accused on Saturday of poor clock management that prevented them from completing their missions. While the Rams' decision not to play for the win in regulation of an NFL playoff game resulted in an overtime loss, Liddy did not have the luxury of an overtime and ran out of precinct committeemen (PCs) and a quorum which cost Maricopa County GOP the opportunity to complete its agenda at the annual mandatory meeting of PCs. After Saturday's meeting, committee chairmen grumbled about Liddy's lack of knowledge...

MATTERS OF LIFE AND DEATHTop abortion doctor convicted of abuse Researcher claims case not as rare as news coverage suggests Posted: December 4, 20031:00 a.m. Eastern © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com Arizona's most prominent abortion doctor was convicted yesterday on 22 counts of sexually abusing patients over the past 17 years. Dr. Brian Finkel, 54, who has said he performed 20 percent of the state's abortions annually, was found not guilty on 34 counts, including six of the more serious charges of sexual assault, the Arizona Republic reported. Dr. Brian Finkel as verdicts are read yesterday (Photo: Arizona Republic) The jury could not reach...

I just ran across this in WakeUp published on the web by AzCEG. Can this be true of lawyers who are swarn to uphold the law? Q. "There is a great deal of talk and praise about a website called [url]www.corruptarizonacourts.com [/url]regarding judicial corruption and racial minorities being targeted by Maricopa County and that a Federal Court case on this issue is due to be tried soon. What can you tell us ?" A. The author of the site told us that "a civil action CIV 04-0170 PHX ROX captioned P. v McKay et al details of which are on...