January 10, 2018

The story behind Sheriff Joe Arpaio who wants to be Arizona's new senator

Reason  -  The 85-year-old Arizonan—an unrepentant birther, nativist, and whiny baby—told the Washington Examiner that he will run on a platform of supporting the agenda of President Donald Trump, who pardoned Arpaio last year after a federal judge held the ex-sheriff in criminal contempt.

A federal judge found Arpaio, who was notorious for jailing inmates in a sweltering desert tent camp, in contempt of court last July for flouting a 2011 order to stop the unconstitutional racial profiling and detainment of Latino residents.

Arpaio gained national prominence, a rare feat for a local sheriff, for his aggressive immigration sweeps. He styled himself as "America's toughest sheriff" and was politically untouchable for most of his 24-year career in local Arizona politics, despite ongoing scandals, lawsuits, and abuses of power.

The tent-city jail that Arpaio enjoyed showing off to reporters was a magnet for inmate lawsuit. Abuses and corruption festered under Arpaio's management. He used his office to target reporters and political opponents, flouting court orders and stonewalling federal investigators.

Maricopa County, Arizona's chief law enforcement officer is famous mostly for publicly degrading inmates: forcing them to live in a tent city, work on chain gangs, wear pink underwear. Meanwhile, his more serious transgressions receive far less attention. Arpaio has created citizen posses to track down and arrest illegal immigrants, overseen a jail staff that has violently abused inmates (resulting in the death of three prisoners and the paralysis of a fourth), and used law enforcement resources to harass and intimidate his political opponents.

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