Posted by
Always To The Right on Wednesday, October 07, 2009 4:09:41 PM
The Tribune’s point about resource allocation within the sheriff’s
department is well taken — and completely irrelevant. The DHS does not
have the authority to dictate resource allocation of county sheriffs
anywhere. The people of Maricopa County make the determination of
whether their sheriff has allocated resources to their liking, not the
federal government. Arpaio stands for election every four years, and
so far no challenger has come within 10 points of Arpaio. If Maricopa
County residents are unhappy with Arpaio’s management of resources,
they’re not demonstrating it.
If the Maricopa County Sheriff Department violated civil-rights
rules, then the Department of Justice has the duty to investigate and
to take corrective action. So far, though, no one has proven anything
of the sort — and that still wouldn’t be the jurisdiction of DHS.
Instead of working with Arpaio, whose publicity-seeking manner
admittedly makes cooperation somewhat more unlikely on the issue of
methods, the DHS instead cut off Maricopa County from assisting DHS
from enforcing immigration law, which tends to give an indication of
the priority of such enforcement in this administration.