Update 5: Sheriff Joe on Americas Newsroom; Videos fixed:Pt 3 & 4 of Sheriff Joe presser added; DHS batting 1000: awards 1 million in firefighting funds to..ACORN! DHS strips Maricopa County Sheriffs of their 287G agent status: Sheriff Joe Press Conference..
Videos update
Nice work Janet! Our former Arizona Governor, now head of DHS, strips our county sheriffs of their 287G authority. Way to keep the borders open…Our previous posts on the program, and ACORN, Rev Al Sharpton and Holder’s politicized attempts to end it here.
Sheriff Joe, as always, pulls no punches. He says this is purely political, he backs that up with evidence, they have finally gotten the DHS Audit report (from back channels) MCSO got an A+ and they are still the only agency having their agent status stripped away. Sheriff Joe makes it clear the WH is playing politics with local law enforcement and the safety of Arizonans and ALL AMERICANS as they leave our border wide open.
Sheriff Joe is represented by the former head of the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Dept. He got the complaint opened of the much reported ; FBI investigations for profiling’ CNN et al covered. One complaint was filed on Sheriff Joe with the FBI AZ AIC , it was filed by Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon (see our April 2008 post of MCSO Deputies saying ‘Mayor Gordon shut up. How dare you call us racist!?!’)
Recall it was Bertha Lewis and ACORN who got this ball rolling,. At whose instructions I wonder?? Who has an interest in our illegal population dropping 30% as they prepare amnesty for a presumed permanent voting bloc? Yeah exactly. Again politics ahead of national security in Team TOTUS.
AZ brave MCSO has MiM’s full support. Sheriff Joe is our sheriff and we are proud of him. He is currently enjoying his fifth term here and has wonderful approval ratings.
Courtesy of AZGOPCommunication
*Tom Petty courtesy of the 333redwaster
Update 4: The Corner notes the 1 mill ‘firefighting’ grant to ACORN is now frozen:
From The Hill:
The Federal Emergency Management Agency on Tuesday announced it would halt its $1 million fire prevention grant to ACORN — a decision Republican lawmakers have since praised.
The Department of Homeland Security initially earmarked the money for ACORN before House and Senate lawmakers mobilized to cut the group’s access to federal dollars. But news of the award emerged much later, after the ACORN furor had subsided.
Update 3: Part III of Sheriff’s Joe presser yesterday, the Q/A:
Update 2: DHS awarded 1 million in firefighting grant funds to ACORN. DHS is totally off the rails of the Crazy Train. I would rather have OZZY run it than Napolitano if she is so WEAK she wont protect the border and doles out grant funds to corrupt vote garnering organizations
Nearly $1 million in Homeland Security funding typically earmarked for fire departments has been awarded to ACORN, despite a clear signal from Congress that it intends to cut off federal funding to the embattled group.
The grant to ACORN’s Louisiana office became public on Oct. 2, less than three weeks after the House and Senate voted to cut off ACORN funding after employees were caught on video advising a fake prostitute and pimp on scams.
It was one of only three such grants issued to the state and made up almost 80 percent of the firefighting money earmarked for Louisiana, prompting one of the U.S. senators from the state to demand that the funds be taken back.
“I request that you rescind this grant based on a history of abuse of federal dollars by ACORN and their clear lack of expertise in this area,” said Sen. David Vitter, Louisiana Republican….
Update: WSJ covers:
The Obama administration is curbing the powers of an Arizona sheriff who has led one of the most contentious fights against illegal immigrants.
Under an agreement involving local enforcement of federal immigration law, Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s deputies will no longer have the authority to arrest suspected illegal immigrants in the streets in the course of their duty……Unlike others participating in the program, Mr. Arpaio will be restricted to determining the immigration status of inmates booked into Maricopa County jails. Vincent Picard, an ICE spokesman in Phoenix, declined to comment. ICE is a unit of the Department of Homeland Security.
…Since February 2007, Mr. Arpaio has arrested about 30,000 illegal immigrants who were booked into jails in his county…”They took away my authority on the streets. That doesn’t matter because I will still pursue illegals on the streets of Maricopa utilizing the authority I have as the elected official,” Mr. Arpaio said Tuesday in an interview…
Update: Americans support local law enforcement checking immigration status during traffic stops; meanwhile in Bizarro World Justice Dept to kill 287G program due to mythical ‘racial profiling’….Sheriff Joe just says no..
Update: Rasmussen recent results show Americans WANT 287g enforcement by local cops:
The police chiefs who spoke out recently indicated a desire to get local law enforcement out of the immigration business. However, 73% of voters want cops to check the immigration status of all offenders during traffic stops. Sixty-seven percent (67%) also say that if law enforcement officers know of places where immigrants gather to find work, they should sometimes conduct surprise raids to identify and deport those who are here illegally.
On another point, the police chiefs recommended that illegal immigrants should be integrated into the legal system, “possibly with driver’s licenses.” However, 77% of voters nationwide oppose drivers’ licenses for undocumented immigrants. That topic tripped up Hillary Clinton in a debate during the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Joe Arpaio, the sheriff of Maricopa County in Arizona, has taken a different approach and has aggressively enforced immigration laws. While his efforts have prompted a U.S. Justice Department civil rights investigation, the sheriff remains popular in his home state. Most Arizona voters not only support his policies, but 58% say he has been good for the state’s image. On a personal basis, Arpaio is viewed favorably by 68% of Arizona voters…
More from the polling:
…Sixty-six percent (66%) of likely voters nationwide say it is Very Important for the government to improve its enforcement of the borders and reduce illegal immigration. Just 32% of America’s Political Class agree.
Sixty-eight percent (68%) of voters nationwide say that those who knowingly hire illegal immigrants should be punished. By a 48% to 36% margin, voters say the same about landlords who rent to illegal immigrants.
The biggest point of disconnect between voters and the conventional wisdom in Washington, D.C. has to do with priorities. Almost always in Washington, the debate begins with a focus on how to address the status of illegal immigrants. To voters, that is a secondary concern. Controlling the borders is a top concern. That hasn’t changes since the 2006 immigration legislation collapsed when the U.S. Senate surrendered to public opinion. During that debate, a New York Times/CBS poll found that 69% believed illegal immigrants should be prosecuted and deported.
What is often lost in the shuffle of the debate over immigration reform is that once the borders are controlled, most Americans favor a welcoming immigration policy provided it is done within the law. Republicans are more supportive than Democrats of such a policy. Overall, by a 55% to 27% margin, Americans favor a policy goal that would welcome everyone except criminals, national security threats and welfare dependants.
Also, while nearly a third of Americans are angry about the immigration issue, they are not angry at the immigrants. They are angry at the federal government….
Moderate in the Middle 