Hispanic leaders endorse investigation of Arpaio

The federal government's decision to investigate Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio for alleged civil rights abuses was praised Thursday by two immigrants' rights activists, who said they expect the Obama Administration to act quickly on comprehensive immigration reform.

Arpaio, meanwhile, said the investigations by the U.S. Justice Department and the House Judiciary Committee are driven by politics and that he will continue to crack down on illegal immigration.

Elias Bermudez of Immigrants Without Borders said he hopes the government will do more than sanction Arpaio.

"I don't want them to step in and just rein in Arpaio," Bermudez said. "I want them to create a law that we can all live with. That is the solution. Arpaio feels that he is doing his job, he is totally wrong on that one."

Bermudez added, "We are very hopeful that, by the end of this year, probably by Thanksgiving Day, thank God, we will have a new immigration law, immigration reform that will solve this problem once and for all."

Bermudez said the sheriff can continue blustering, but he knows the heat is on.

"Finally, somebody's listening and hopefully somebody will confirm the fact that Mr. Arpaio has been racially profiling people for traffic stops," Bermudez said.

Former state lawmaker, turned activist, Alfredo Gutierrez also said the sheriff's "house of cards" is beginning to fall as the U.S. Justice Department and the House Judiciary Committee launch investigations of his immigration policies.

"We've been making complaints via lawsuits, via letters, via requests to the Department of Justice and to Congress for months now," Gutierrez said. "This is the first real evidence that they're taking it seriously."

While Arpaio has said he will not go to Washington, D.C., to appear at the congressional hearings, Gutierrez said he may have no choice.

"That sort of larger-than-life clown personality of his is going to play out until the very end, but on the other hand, a subpoena is a subpoena," he said. "All of this hrumphing is going to come to an end when the subpoena arrives."

The sheriff, who had said he welcomed the Justice Department investigation, cried "foul" Wednesday when House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., said he would hold hearings in April.

"Why would you have a hearing in the process of me being investigated?" Arpaio asked.

Arpaio said he has no intention of going to Washington, D.C., to testify at the hearings.

"He (Conyers) can come here," the sheriff said. "I wrote him a letter inviting him to come to Phoenix. I'll take him to the tents. But, he never responded."

The "tents" are Arpaio's Tent City Jail. The federal investigations were triggered by the sheriff's decision last month to put 200 illegal immigrants, held for various violations, in a segregated part of Tent City. The sheriff's crime sweeps also have been criticized as racial profiling against Hispanics.

The investigations by the Justice Department and Congress are nothing more than politics at play, Arpaio said.

"How come everybody's a Democrat? Everybody that's involved in this."

He said he has a message for Conyers: "Do you really think I'm going to surrender?"

A spokesman for Conyers, D-Mich., said the hearing in April also is expected to examine other examples from around the country of alleged abuses of a program that allows local police departments to enforce federal immigration laws.

Arpaio's department is the largest participant in the program. His department has also aggressively pursued investigations under Arizona's employer sanctions law and a state anti-smuggling law.

The smuggling law was meant to help local police fight smugglers but an interpretation by Maricopa County's top prosecutor opened the door for Arpaio's deputies to arrest people who pay smugglers and accuse them of being co- conspirators.

``We're not trying to persecute or take advantage of anybody,'' Conyers said. ``Law enforcement officers have a very important and valuable function. The problem is they can't interpret the law their own way to harass or use racial strategies to determine who they arrest.''

As news of the federal investigations surfaced, protesters gathered outside Arpaio's downtown Phoenix office Wednesday. Members of Maricopa Citizens for Safety and Accountability carried pink slips of paper, calling for Arpaio to resign.

Randy Parraz of the group said it's about time for an investigation.

"It's a new administration," Parraz said. "Unfortunately, the previous administration refused to take action. They let it drag, they wouldn't do anything. For this administration to come in, and within 60 days, issue this type of investigation on a county speaks to what's taking place here."

A few Arpaio supporters showed up and exchanged comments with those demanding his resignation.

When Parraz said, "We want someone who cares about people," an unidentified woman interrupted and said, "We want someone who upholds the law. He (Arpaio) is the only one who upholds the law... They will investigate him and find out he is within the law."

(Copyright 2008 Bonneville International Corporation. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. AP contributed to this report.)