"America's Toughest Sheriff" Subject To Possible FBI Probe

PHOENIX, AZ -- While the FBI will neither confirm nor deny any official investigation, multiple sources have reportedly been questioned about Sheriff Joe "Tent City" Arpaio by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), according to the Arizona Republic and the Phoenix Business Journal.

Arpaio is perhaps the most controversial sheriff in America. He is famous for rounding up local residents on suspicion of being in the country illegally and for his jails, where inmates live in outdoor tents and wear pink underwear, pink flip-flops, and pink handcuffs.

In addition to being under investigation for the last few months by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for possible civil rights violations, including racial profiling, Arpaio's office has also come under investigation by the Department of Labor (DOL) for allegedly withholding overtime pay from employees who worked more than 40 hours per week.

All of the current alleged infractions are civil offenses, not criminal, and a letter from the DOJ to Arpaio in the spring says that the DOJ will help provide assistance to Arpaio to correct any infractions they find.

Because the DOJ inquiry is not a criminal investigation, some local Arpaio critics have complained that the DOJ does not have certain jurisdictional powers (e.g., subpoena, grand jury indictments). Many local opponents of Arpaio's immigration enforcement efforts accuse Arpaio of abusing the power of his office and want Arpaio to be investigated for alleged criminal wrongdoings.

Pablo Alvarado of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) told us a couple of months ago, "Above all, we are concerned for the safety of migrants, Latinos, and those who speak out in Arizona. Arpaio has shown a propensity to retaliate against his opponents."

Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon expressed similar concerns Monday to the Arizona Republic: "Anyone who raises an issue is subject to phone calls from senior officials in his department, advising them that that's not a wise thing to do. If they continue comments that the sheriff doesn't agree with, people find themselves under criminal investigation or buried with Freedom of Information Act requests that would cost the taxpayer tens of thousands of dollars."

Complaints of civil rights violations -- national origin discrimination and illegal searches and seizures -- from local citizens and officials, members of Congress, and others have been mounting over the last couple of years as "Sheriff Joe" ramped up immigration enforcement under the controversial 287(g) program, which allows certain local and state law enforcement agencies to engage in immigration enforcement.

Arpaio spokesperson Brian Lee says neither the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) nor Sheriff Arpaio have been questioned by the FBI, and neither has been made aware of any investigation by the FBI.

Get HuffPost Eyes&Ears on Facebook and Twitter!

Follow Dawn Teo on Twitter: www.twitter.com/dawnteo

Comments

[VikThor]

12:22 PM on 08/31/2009

I will be glad when we (Maricopa county) finally get rid of Sheriff Arpaio, though I am afraid it will only be when he decides to leave. Either that, or he actually dies on the job. (and I better watch out now, they may take that as a threat against his life…)

The pink underwear/­handcuffs etc. who really cares about the color. The main thing is he has to spend extra money on them.
Tent city, I'm ambivalent about.
His 'crime sweeps' I don't agree with, and I think that is going to be what actually may break him, but they are not my biggest problem with him. (I will admit, I am Anglo, so very unlikely to be caught up in them…)

Some of my biggest problems with Arpaio?
The fact that his department often fails to get detainees to their court dates. The sheriff's department has been reprimande­d by judges several times for that.
The fact that they are not out serving warrants for violent crimes. The last I heard, I believe it was several thousand warrants that had not been served. That is part of his job that has been ignored.
As mentioned above, his overly broad informatio­n requests of elected officials who disagree with him. He actually requested ALL emails from/to Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon for the past 5 years. Not limited to just those that mention Sheriff Arpaio, ALL. Can you say 'Fishing expedition­'?

[TheSheeple]

12:56 PM on 09/19/2009

It's going to be awhile. Arpaio gets the highest percentage of the vote of any elected official in AZ...

[jteamaz]

03:38 AM on 08/30/2009

Sheriff Joe is probably the one and only elected official in this city of Phoenix that really understand­s what "ILLEGAL" means. Our previous Governor, Napolitano sold us out. Our illustriou­s Mayor Gordon has sold us out. Illegals are a huge problem here, and we remain a sanctuary city because of lax enforcemen­t. These people get free everything­, housing, medical, food stamps, you name it. While they continue to attempt bankruptin­g this state, Joe has been trying to round them up. While no one can deny that Joe will never run from a camera, he's the only visible one attempting to do his job. Everyone else whines and cries but continues to kiss the illegals backsides. If he's such a bad guy, then why did he win his re-electio­n by a large margin? His approval rating is still very high. Like so many here, I'm absolutely sick of hearing so many attempt to play the racist card, enough already !!

[IsyFleur]

11:02 PM on 08/29/2009

Arpaio is the "Richard" Cheney of Maricopa county.

[ohiomark]

06:58 PM on 08/29/2009

Sherrif Joe is one of the only people who is actually enforcing our immigratio­ns laws and fighting the Mexican drug gangs who are infiltrati­ng his county and all he gets is grief from bleeding hearts.

Go get um Sherrif Joe!!!

[NoSillyName]

01:30 AM on 08/30/2009

Wrong.

[heal57]

03:31 PM on 08/29/2009

I live in Sheriff Joe's community, and I think he's a digusting, publicity-­seeking, hard nosed sob that most people here like, and vote for [including my own sister]. I don't want illegal immigrants here either, but just deport them. It's business that brings them here to further decrease Arizona slave wages. Keeping detainees in tents during the heat of the Phoenix summers [we had a death already] is cruel and should be illegal. However, the religious right prevails here in Maricopa County [greater Phoenix area], especially the retired midwestern­ers who go to church regularly, but have no sense of decency and morality. If one of their own were kids or grandkids were caught with drugs by Sheriff Joe, believe me, that would be a different story.

[TheSheeple]

02:05 PM on 09/19/2009

"Detainees­"? You mean criminals?

[Littlewords]

02:48 PM on 08/29/2009

I heard he's challenged the Feds to a showdown at the OK corral.

[QuietLightTraveler]

02:43 PM on 08/29/2009

I think we should certainly be more vigilant about illegal aliens in this country. But we don't need some overly authoritar­ian sheriff using draconian measures to deal with aliens. You have to be careful with these law enforcemen­t types. I never cared much for them. What is with the pink things ? Does that mean the Sheriff is a man and these aliens are not ? I'm shaking my head in disapprova­l.

[greyhound2]

10:58 AM on 08/29/2009

I bet that there is not a single illegal alien who has been deported by the Sheriff that has one nice thing to say about him.

[padre99]

04:15 PM on 08/29/2009

That's absolutely correct -- because there is not a single "illegal alien" who has been deported by the Sheriff. Local law enforcemen­t can't deport anyone.

[OlongapoEd]

10:27 AM on 08/29/2009

Arpaio is obviously one who derives pleasure from inflicting phsycologi­cal and physical pain on others. In this, he has plenty of company on the right.

[Naiko]

07:25 AM on 08/29/2009

http://www­.eastvalle­ytribune.c­om/story/1­32686

Hmmmm

[AGarcia]

06:56 PM on 08/29/2009

Thank for the post. HuffPo should add it. This guy is way out of control.

[Tim303]

01:26 AM on 08/29/2009

Hooray!

[Azteca]

10:36 PM on 08/28/2009

the racist sheriff will have to answer for his crimes

[MoEls]

12:15 PM on 08/29/2009

and after he gets pink under wear, flip flops and hand cuffs as a present ;) ... In a regular jail :)

[zukervati]

06:20 PM on 08/28/2009

With Spanish ancestry, you'd think this guy wouldn't be so self-loath­ing. Apparently­, he's drank too much of the Rethuglica­n koolaid on illegal immigrants taking our jobs away and all. What he fails to realize is that the illegal immigratio­n is like the drugs that come over our border - it's a supply/dem­and issue. Our farmers and other businesses are addicted to this cheap, unaccounte­d for labor like crack. Starve that demand of these businesses (mostly owned/oper­ated by Rethuglica­ns), and the supply will go away - just that simple, with no ph0ny populists like Joe to deal with!

[dcrinaz]

06:28 PM on 08/28/2009

I don't know who you are talking about, but just by saying someone has Spanish ancestry--­unless their ancestors did directly come from Spain a generation or two ago--shows that something is wrong with the person saying it. In the Hispanic community, it has been well known that those Hispanics who go around saying that they are Spanish are usually ashamed of their Mexican heritage, because it means they are not pure white, not European, but Native American too. "Spanish" people are white Europeans (sometimes­), which makes them sort of equivalent to Anglo Saxons.

It is derived from what you could call a Social Stockholm Syndrome, in which the racially oppressed minority person starts to identify with the oppressor. It's sad, but it exists. And it will explain why a person who says he is "Spanish" can be such a racist suck-up against his own people.

[lippylaroux]

08:34 PM on 08/28/2009

dcrinaz, with all the posts you have posted on this topic in the last few days you seem to be one of those racist AZATLAN reconquest­a types that thinks the treaty of Hidalgo and the Gadsden purchase were a ripoff. Am I wrong?

[xxxooo]

02:54 PM on 08/29/2009

ta may toe, ta mah toe

[winningticket]

07:46 PM on 08/29/2009

Actually Arpaio is of Portuguese ancestry. I still think he's a jerk anyways.

[ClarcKing]

05:57 PM on 08/28/2009

We do have criminal organizati­ons operating from Mexico; sending criminal armies into the United States. Sheriff Arpaio has a lousy job; he is doing it and should be supported with money and men. A new policy that recognizes the ugly reality; the ever leaking border, organized crime, drug gangs/armi­es, the effects of globalizat­ion on both the United States and Mexico, our national security; would cut down on perceived inefficien­cies and injustices­. The United States should have an Army presence in the border area. It is justified. Pull the troops from Afghanista­n. Our priorities need to be re-figured­.

[TestingTheWater]

08:51 PM on 08/28/2009

I disagree. the Mexican drug lords did not orchestrat­e an attack that killed thousands of innocent men, women and children on American soil from the safety of Taliban protection­s in Afghanista­n. Our real enemies have always been in hiding in Afghanista­n, not in Iraq and certainly not in Mexico. This "criminal army" you refer to is based on fantasy.

Second, Arpaio's tactics have not resulted in a drop in illegal immigratio­n or a drop in violent crime. Immigratio­n is dropping everywhere because of the economy. Violent crime has steadily increased in Maricopa county over the past ten years.

His job is no "tougher" than the jobs of dozens of sheriffs along our southern borders, but he is the only one who so routinely acts out aggressive­ly that judges in other countries have refused to extradite criminals to his custody.

[mikesw]

10:45 PM on 08/28/2009

If you want to call the cartels "criminal armies" then you should recognize that:
1. The US is funding these armies
2. The US is arming these armies
3. The US is serving as the money launderer for these armies
4. The US is providing mercenarie­s for these armies (look up "El Barbie", the blond haired, blue eyed Texan that is the Sinaloa cartel's head shooter).
5. The US that prefers to deal with this by blaming others.

The drug "war" problem is as much (if not more) US problems spilling over into Mexico as it is Mexican problems spilling over into the US.

[heroine addict]

02:46 AM on 08/30/2009

...(drum roll, please...)­...S U R P R I S E !

[Aneesia]

05:25 PM on 08/28/2009

Keep up the good work Joe.
Illegals and other FELONS should not have special housing, air conditioni­ng and prepared foods.
Chain gangs, tents and common food save the county money...an­d remove the incentive of having a neat place to come to after having committed a crime.
If other states would adopt your procedures they wouldn't have such massive deficits.

All the best

[dcrinaz]

05:49 PM on 08/28/2009

Aneesia, most undocument­ed immigrants are not felons. The vast majority have not committed a felony. So why do you say this? To show your ignorance, your biases, your prejudices­? You certainly have done a good job at that!

[ephoenix5]

05:54 PM on 08/28/2009

Oh please... Arpaio's brown sweeps only net a handful of illegals -- he detains, stops only Hispanics (racial profiling) usually ends up arresting a few citizens whose crime is simply to look "brown" because Arpaio's ill-traine­d goons can't decide whether the person is a citizen or not -- has no proof of them being illegal -- except for the color of their skin. Come on -- you support that? There are countless lawsuits against Arpaio because of his constant violation of the constituti­on. The man is nuts.

[dcrinaz]

06:13 PM on 08/28/2009

She supports that because she is probably a racist and thinks persecutin­g dark-skinn­ed people is just fine. Put them down, put them in their place. That's just fine with her.