Arpaio Says Sweeps Are About Crime, Not Immigration

“Do not arouse the wrath of this sheriff.”

Yup, that’s direct from the mouth of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

He sent his deputies back out on a two-day crime-suppression sweep this past weekend, even after a federal judge found that prior sweeps were tainted by racial profiling of Hispanics.

“This operation is geared toward crime, not an illegal immigration operation,” Arpaio told KTVK-3TV. The sweep was the first of its kind since a court ruling in October put the Maricopa department under surveillance for civil rights infractions.

The 14-hour operation resulted in 37 arrests, according to a spokesperson for the sheriff.

The American Civil Liberties Union wasn’t happy about the sweep, and filed a complaint with the court saying they weren’t given enough advance warning.

“We were surprised by it; we had no prior notice,” the ACLU’s Dan Pochoda told KTVK-3TV.

Ted Hesson was formerly the immigration editor at Fusion, covering the issue from Washington, D.C. He also writes about drug laws and (occasionally) baseball. On the side: guitars, urban biking, and fiction.