White House strips immigration policing powers from Arizona sheriff

[Chris_]

White House strips immigration policing powers from Arizona sheriff

A controversial Arizona sheriff known for taking a hard line against illegal immigrants has been stripped of some of his powers in what he described as a political move by the Obama administration.

Joe Arpaio, a gruff lawman who styles himself as America's toughest sheriff, has won acclaim from US anti-immigrant forces for his relentless pursuit of mostly Hispanic illegal immigrants in Maricopa county, Arizona, a fast-growing county of 4 million people that is home to Phoenix, the nation's fifth largest city.

*snip*

Under a two-year-old agreement with the federal department of homeland security, Arpaio and his deputies had been authorised to enforce federal immigration law by arresting suspected illegal immigrants in the field and by checking the immigration status of people arrested on other offences.

But after drawing thousands of complaints and a civil rights investigation from the justice department, Arpaio was this week stripped of his federal authority to make immigration arrests. County attorney Andrew Thomas, one of Arpaio's supporters, condemned the "setback in the fight against illegal immigration".

*snip*

Arpaio's critics decried his continued plans to arrest illegal immigrants and said the Obama administration should sever all ties with him.

Maybe Uncle Zer0 should recall his ambassador to Arizona.   

MORE

[Chris_]

Arizona's a "Terrorist State", according to the White House.  The United (Socialist) States of America does not lend legitimacy to "Terrorist States" with embassies.

[Thor]

Isn't there already a thread on this ??

[thundley4]

Isn't there already a thread on this ??

Last week or sometime there was.

[docstew]

is this legal?  I can understand, even if I don't agree with, stripping the ability to enforce FEDERAL law, but can they stop him enforcing STATE law? (I'm assuming there is a state law against illegal immigration)  Also, is this a precedent that they want to set?  What's to stop the next conservative POTUS from banning enforcement of a law requiring gay marriage to be recognized?  And isn't part of his duty to enforce ALL the laws, not just the ones he likes, otherwise he is legislating, a clear breach of separation of powers?

[Eupher]

is this legal?  I can understand, even if I don't agree with, stripping the ability to enforce FEDERAL law, but can they stop him enforcing STATE law? (I'm assuming there is a state law against illegal immigration)  Also, is this a precedent that they want to set?  What's to stop the next conservative POTUS from banning enforcement of a law requiring gay marriage to be recognized?  And isn't part of his duty to enforce ALL the laws, not just the ones he likes, otherwise he is legislating, a clear breach of separation of powers?

Based on the two-year old agreement with DHS, it seems to me that Lord Zero can undo what had been done two years ago and it looks like that's exactly what happened.

The bullshit of local law enforcement simply turning a blind eye to immigration status simply because it's a federal issue is the natural outcome. Dunno what the county legislation says, but if Joe doesn't have the county's authorization to detain suspects until confirmation of their immigration status, he may be screwed.

[docstew]

Ok, so what's the status on a state or local law on immigration status?  is there one?