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Mayor Phil Gordon: This isn't personal, it's about safety
by Phil Gordon - Aug. 7, 2008 12:00 AM
Mayor of Phoenix
My disagreements with the sheriff are about professional decisions and public safety.
Our shared goal has to be the safety of our community. And, from the beginning, I have respectfully asked the sheriff to do three things to help ensure the safest possible community for us all:
First, I have asked him to simply do what the Phoenix Police Department does: cooperate with other local law enforcement jurisdictions. Let the various police departments know exactly what he is doing. Plan with them. Share information and resources. Don't jeopardize ongoing undercover operations. Don't put deputies, other officers and the public at increased risk.
That's not asking a lot. It shouldn't need to be asked at all. As reported by the FBI, Phoenix crime rates are down in every category, while the crime numbers in the unincorporated areas of the county, which are solely the responsibility of the sheriff, are going up and fast becoming a crisis. That calls for more cooperation and sharing - not less.
Second, I have asked him to help make our community safer by focusing on the 40,000 felony arrest warrants - of dangerous criminals - that are still outstanding in Maricopa County; to focus on the "worst of the worst" - rapists, murderers, drug dealers, violent and repeat offenders. Like other jurisdictions do.
Finally, I have asked the sheriff to respect the Constitution and the civil rights of all American citizens. Recently, this newspaper, the East Valley Tribune, the Washington Post, Valley media, the Anti-Defamation League and associations of pastors, priests and rabbis have noted specific examples of the sheriff's refusal to follow federal civil-rights requirements when pursuing illegal immigrants. But he must respect civil rights. American citizens and U.S. veterans who fought for our rights are seeing their own rights violated. Immigrants, who are here legally, with paperwork in hand, are being treated like criminals. Vendors, with valid visas and properly licensed equipment, are being detained. All those things are wrong and unacceptable.
I have asked investigative journalists to come to Phoenix and join with local journalists to tell this story because it needs to be told. Not because we don't want immigration laws enforced. We do. (In fact, Phoenix police have arrested 11,000 criminal immigrants and turned an additional 4,000 over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the past two years alone). We want this story told because the civil rights of citizens and others here legally must be protected.
We all have a basic right to be left alone by law enforcement if we have done nothing wrong. The sheriff sees it differently. It is my hope that when a national journalistic spotlight shines on the sheriff's bizarre, dangerous and constitutionally challenged choices, the decision-makers in Washington, D.C., will see the sad results of their neglect and finally be moved to act.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++=
Sheriff Joe Arpaio: Mayor, you're out of step, out of line
by Joe Arpaio - Aug. 7, 2008 12:00 AM
Maricopa County Sheriff
This is my response to Mayor Gordon's plea to the national press to investigate my crackdown on illegal immigration in hopes of "stopping the madness."
Your Washington antics (paid for by Phoenix taxpayers) before the national press corps made me chuckle.
You disagree with how I am fighting the problem of illegal immigration.
And because, according to independent polls, 80 percent of the people here side with me on this issue, you are taking the desperate step of begging the national media to descend upon my office to prove these crackdowns are violating people's civil rights.
Problem is, Mayor, the national media have reported on my tactics.
Since January 2008, more than 60 different national media have carefully examined my programs, including these suppression sweeps.
What do you hope to gain by asking for more coverage? Please stop being my PR agent. I do fine on my own.
You told the national press corps that my fight against illegal immigration is "madness that must be stopped."
In doing so you insulted the men and women of this agency who combat illegal immigration every day and at every turn and the vast majority of our citizenry who want illegal immigration laws enforced.
How could you be so out of touch with the very people who once elected you?
No wonder an effort to remove you from office is under way, for you have forgotten what public service really means. I know what my oath of office demands, while you apparently do not.
While in D.C., you insulted my office, called me a false messiah and said I am a lawbreaker.
You begged various entities to investigate me as if I were a common criminal.
What you are really doing is pandering to a small, vocal constituency that supports open borders and refuses to see the collateral damage caused by unchecked illegal immigration.
You make foolish statements unsupported by facts.
You claim that my crime-suppression sweeps make immigrants fearful of cooperating with police and that my deputies are racially-profiling people.
Where are the facts to support these claims?
There aren't any.
You know what I think, Mayor?
I believe that you know you are on the losing end of the illegal-immigration argument and that very fact has you acting in desperation. Your public behavior is woeful.
With a glaring lack of professional decorum, you continue to attack me personally at every opportunity.
Mayor Phil Gordon: This isn't personal, it's about safety
by Phil Gordon - Aug. 7, 2008 12:00 AM
Mayor of Phoenix
My disagreements with the sheriff are about professional decisions and public safety.
Our shared goal has to be the safety of our community. And, from the beginning, I have respectfully asked the sheriff to do three things to help ensure the safest possible community for us all:
First, I have asked him to simply do what the Phoenix Police Department does: cooperate with other local law enforcement jurisdictions. Let the various police departments know exactly what he is doing. Plan with them. Share information and resources. Don't jeopardize ongoing undercover operations. Don't put deputies, other officers and the public at increased risk.
That's not asking a lot. It shouldn't need to be asked at all. As reported by the FBI, Phoenix crime rates are down in every category, while the crime numbers in the unincorporated areas of the county, which are solely the responsibility of the sheriff, are going up and fast becoming a crisis. That calls for more cooperation and sharing - not less.
Second, I have asked him to help make our community safer by focusing on the 40,000 felony arrest warrants - of dangerous criminals - that are still outstanding in Maricopa County; to focus on the "worst of the worst" - rapists, murderers, drug dealers, violent and repeat offenders. Like other jurisdictions do.
Finally, I have asked the sheriff to respect the Constitution and the civil rights of all American citizens. Recently, this newspaper, the East Valley Tribune, the Washington Post, Valley media, the Anti-Defamation League and associations of pastors, priests and rabbis have noted specific examples of the sheriff's refusal to follow federal civil-rights requirements when pursuing illegal immigrants. But he must respect civil rights. American citizens and U.S. veterans who fought for our rights are seeing their own rights violated. Immigrants, who are here legally, with paperwork in hand, are being treated like criminals. Vendors, with valid visas and properly licensed equipment, are being detained. All those things are wrong and unacceptable.
I have asked investigative journalists to come to Phoenix and join with local journalists to tell this story because it needs to be told. Not because we don't want immigration laws enforced. We do. (In fact, Phoenix police have arrested 11,000 criminal immigrants and turned an additional 4,000 over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the past two years alone). We want this story told because the civil rights of citizens and others here legally must be protected.
We all have a basic right to be left alone by law enforcement if we have done nothing wrong. The sheriff sees it differently. It is my hope that when a national journalistic spotlight shines on the sheriff's bizarre, dangerous and constitutionally challenged choices, the decision-makers in Washington, D.C., will see the sad results of their neglect and finally be moved to act.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++=
Sheriff Joe Arpaio: Mayor, you're out of step, out of line
by Joe Arpaio - Aug. 7, 2008 12:00 AM
Maricopa County Sheriff
This is my response to Mayor Gordon's plea to the national press to investigate my crackdown on illegal immigration in hopes of "stopping the madness."
Your Washington antics (paid for by Phoenix taxpayers) before the national press corps made me chuckle.
You disagree with how I am fighting the problem of illegal immigration.
And because, according to independent polls, 80 percent of the people here side with me on this issue, you are taking the desperate step of begging the national media to descend upon my office to prove these crackdowns are violating people's civil rights.
Problem is, Mayor, the national media have reported on my tactics.
Since January 2008, more than 60 different national media have carefully examined my programs, including these suppression sweeps.
What do you hope to gain by asking for more coverage? Please stop being my PR agent. I do fine on my own.
You told the national press corps that my fight against illegal immigration is "madness that must be stopped."
In doing so you insulted the men and women of this agency who combat illegal immigration every day and at every turn and the vast majority of our citizenry who want illegal immigration laws enforced.
How could you be so out of touch with the very people who once elected you?
No wonder an effort to remove you from office is under way, for you have forgotten what public service really means. I know what my oath of office demands, while you apparently do not.
While in D.C., you insulted my office, called me a false messiah and said I am a lawbreaker.
You begged various entities to investigate me as if I were a common criminal.
What you are really doing is pandering to a small, vocal constituency that supports open borders and refuses to see the collateral damage caused by unchecked illegal immigration.
You make foolish statements unsupported by facts.
You claim that my crime-suppression sweeps make immigrants fearful of cooperating with police and that my deputies are racially-profiling people.
Where are the facts to support these claims?
There aren't any.
You know what I think, Mayor?
I believe that you know you are on the losing end of the illegal-immigration argument and that very fact has you acting in desperation. Your public behavior is woeful.
With a glaring lack of professional decorum, you continue to attack me personally at every opportunity.
.
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