America’s Voice Petition Urges Justice Department Investigation into Anti-Immigrant Arizona Sheriff Arpaio
America’s Voice, a national immigration reform organization, has created a petition calling on the Department of Justice to investigate the actions of Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz.
The petition comes in the wake of public outcry over Arpaio’s recent humiliation of 200 undocumented immigrant inmates. On February 4, Arpaio marched them from the Durango Jail in Phoenix to a jail facility known as “Tent City” in full view of the public and television cameras.
The march was just the latest instance of Arpaio’s anti-immigrant tactics. With more than 2,700 lawsuits against him, his prisons stripped of their health standards accreditation, and a backlog of 40,000 outstanding felony warrants to enforce, Arpaio instead focuses on stopping “Latino-looking” drivers and conducting sidewalk “crime sweeps” in low-income neighborhoods.