Justice Department lawyers sue Arizona sheriff in civil rights probe
By Terry Frieden, CNN Justice Department Producer
September 2, 2010 

A lawsuit alleges Sheriff Joe Arpaio isn't cooperating with a probe into alleged discrimination against Hispanics.

Washington (CNN) -- Justice Department civil rights lawyers filed suit against Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona on Thursday after talks collapsed on a deal to provide federal investigators with documents they requested.

The suit, filed in federal court in Phoenix, Arizona, claims the Maricopa County sheriff has failed to cooperate with the investigation into alleged discrimination against Hispanics by Arpaio's law enforcement officials.

The Justice Department expressed dismay at the sheriff's office's "refusal to cooperate with the investigation." (Continues)

Sep 2, 2010 -- 8:16PM, Iwantamotto wrote:

Suing him?  The feds can't just "persuade" him to stop obstructing?  I mean, it's not like our country cares very much about due process anyway.  :P

It's selective prosecution, that is the rub.

After all, our country has never presented a 29 page Human Rights Report to the United Nations, citing we've committed a number of human rights including Arizona's passage of S.B. 1070, before either.

But that's why there's this lawsuit by the JD now. To make it look like our Justice Department is taking steps to change things, starting with Arizona! So we report ourselves, and then we sue Arizona to make it look like our own report should be considered in light of our act of contrition, bringing suit against our 48th State. 

I wonder if in that report there's mention of the human rights violations that occur because of the cartel crimes that go on and have escalated over the years, so as to put the residents of our Border States in peril while Federal law enforcement and immigration have been largely ineffective in curbing the problem?
Dare I bet, hell no!?

Sep 2, 2010 -- 8:41PM, Iwantamotto wrote:

I wonder if in that report there's mention of the human rights violations that occur because of the cartel crimes that go on and have escalated over the years, so as to put the residents of our Border States in peril while Federal law enforcement and immigration have been largely ineffective in curbing the problem?

If drugs and violence are the issue, then Arizona's cops are just lazy.  They just want to blame the feds for their own incompetence.

The Katrina issue is a whole other kettle of fish and government corruption.
However, keeping to the MDC's, Arizona cops can only do so much. And when the Fed's basically agree, what border State stands a chance of policing on their own?

Excerpt: September 1, 2010 article:

(Bold is my edit)

(sic)"...The federal government has posted signs along a major interstate highway  in Arizona, more than 100 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border,  warning travelers the area is unsafe because of drug and alien  smugglers, and a local sheriff says Mexican drug cartels now control  some parts of the state.

The signs were posted by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) along a  60-mile stretch of Interstate 8 between Casa Grande and Gila Bend, a  major east-west corridor linking Tucson and Phoenix with San Diego.

They warn travelers that they are entering an "active drug and human  smuggling area" and they may encounter "armed criminals and smuggling  vehicles traveling at high rates of speed." Beginning less than 50 miles  south of Phoenix, the signs encourage travelers to "use public lands  north of Interstate 8" and to call 911 if they "see suspicious  activity."

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, whose county lies at the center of  major drug and alien smuggling routes to Phoenix and cities east and  west, attests to the violence. He said his deputies are outmanned and  outgunned by drug traffickers in the rough-hewn desert stretches of his  own county." (Continues at link)