House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) told CNSNews.com he is going to invite Maricopa County (Ariz.) Sheriff Joe Arpaio to testify in his committee about alleged abuses by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office in its enforcement of U.S. immigration laws. But a spokeswoman for Arpaio told CNSNews.com that the sheriff -- who has not yet received an official invitation to testify -- currently has “no intention” of appearing before Conyers’ committee.
The spokeswoman said, however, that Arpaio “welcomes” a Justice Department investigation into the way his sheriff’s office has handled enforcement of federal immigration laws.
As CNSNews.com reported last week, Acting Assistant Atty. Gen. Loretta King sent a letter to Sheriff Arpaio on March 10 informing him that the Justice Department was initiating an investigation of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO).
The investigation, King wrote, will “focus on alleged patterns or practices of discriminatory police practices and unconstitutional searches and seizures conducted by the MCSO, and on allegations of national origin discrimination, including failure to provide meaningful access to MCSO services for limited English proficient (LEP) individuals.”
The announcement of the Justice Department investigation followed a Feb. 12 letter that Conyers sent to Atty. Gen. Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano requesting an investigation of Arpaio and the MCSO.
Conyers was joined in signing that letter by three other members of the House Judiciary Committee: Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), the chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Immigration; Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Rights; and Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), chairman of the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security.
“Specifically, we would like to know what actions your Department will take to ensure that Hispanic residents of Maricopa County are not subjected to racial profiling, unequal treatment at the hands of Sheriff’s Department personnel, or violations of generally accepted standards of confinement,” the congressmen said in their letter to Holder and Napolitano.
CNSNews.com spoke with Conyers after a Capitol Hill press conference last Wednesday, where he had been joined by representatives of ACORN, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, and other activists groups. The press conference had been called so the groups could present a petition carrying 35,000 signatures that called on the Justice Department and Homeland Security to investigate Sheriff Arpaio for alleged civil rights abuses.
When asked if he had been briefed on specific evidence of racial profiling by MCSO, Conyers said: “No, no I haven’t been briefed on it. We are getting ready to hold a hearing on it.”
When asked if he specifically knows whether Arpaio has done racial profiling, Conyers said, “Look, we are going to invite him to be a witness so we can clear up all the ambiguities in the world, and we’d like you to be there too."
Voice of John Conyers (D-Mich.)
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/conten...x?RsrcID=45078The director of media relations for the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, Lisa Allen, told CNSNews.com that Sheriff Arpaio has “no intention” of testifying in Conyers’ committee.
“He has no intention of going to Washington at this point," said Allen, when asked by CNSNews.com about Conyers' desire to have Arpaio testify.
“We are not surprised by the initiation of hearings and so forth,” said Allen. “We knew when the administration in Washington changed, the likelihood of getting a much more sympathetic ear to a lot of these open-border activists would probably occur. We are not at all concerned about the hearings or about the Department of Justice investigation. We are confident that we are not racially profiling. We have trained and are cognizant of that type of criticism being levied against us all the time,” she said.
“We guard against any type of racial profiling either in the jails or on patrol in our human smuggling operations,” she said. “So, Mr. Conyers, we believe, is politically motivated by some of his Democratic, left-wing constituents, to kind of go after Sheriff Arpaio who is kind of the poster boy for the tough illegal immigration fight.”
“We don’t believe Mr. Conyers is particularly well-informed,” said Allen.
Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said he is worried that Conyers’ intended hearing is an attempt to discourage enforcement of the immigration law.
"Some Democrats seem to have forgotten that in America, you're innocent until proven guilty,” Smith told CNSNews.com in a statement. “I’m concerned that this hearing is an attempt to intimidate other law enforcement officials and discourage immigration enforcement. Democrats need to stop trying people in the court of public opinion--where there is no evidence--and let the Justice Department do its job without political interference."
When asked if there’s anything wrong with Sheriff Arpaio enforcing the immigration laws under authority provided by the federal government, Rep. Nadler said: “Well, I’m not sure there’s anything wrong with enforcing the law under federal authority, but there’s a lot wrong with--in the name of enforcing the law--engaging in racial profiling, grabbing people without due process, without warrants and mistreating them.”
“I mean it’s exactly what the law prohibits. Section 1983 of the federal law prohibits anyone acting under color of law, depriving people of civil rights, and this guy seems to be doing that also,” said Nadler.
When Conyers was asked whether there was anything wrong with a local sheriff enforcing immigration laws under federal authority, he said: “Well, racial profiling is not legal even from a sheriff. We have laws against racial profiling. That’s the problem. You can’t harass people because you want to use race or language or appearance as a basis for enforcing the law, in my mind.”
In her letter to Sheriff Arpaio, Acting Assistant Att. Gen,King said: “We have not reached any conclusions about the subject matter of the investigation. We believe that you and other Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) officials want to operate the MCSO consistent with the requirements of the Constitutional and Federal Law.”
“During the course of the investigation,” she said, “we will consider all relevant information, particularly the efforts the MCSO has undertaken to ensure compliance with federal law.”
The media relations office for the Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee declined to comment on this story.
Transcript of CNSNews.com interview with Judiciary Chairman John Conyers:
Nick Ballasy, CNSNews.com: What is wrong with the sheriff enforcing the law under federal authority?
Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.): Well, racial profiling is not legal even from a sheriff. We have laws against racial profiling. That’s the problem. You can’t harass people because you want to use race or language or appearance as a basis for enforcing the law in my mind.
Ballasy: Were you briefed on the specific evidence that he is indeed racial profiling?
Conyers: No, no I haven’t been briefed on it. We are getting ready to hold a hearing on it.
Ballasy: So, you’re just investigating it? We don’t know specifically whether he is or not?
Conyers: Look, we are going to invite him to be a witness so we can clear up all the ambiguities in the world, and we’d like you to be there too.