Government Harassing An Arizona Lawman

Posted Friday, March 13, 2009 4:20 PM PT

At a time when our border is becoming a war zone, something's a bit suspect about the Justice Department suddenly harassing a border-state sheriff who zealously enforces the law.

Last Tuesday, the Justice Department notified Joe Arpaio, the top lawman in Maricopa County, Ariz., including Phoenix, that his department is under investigation for "patterns" of discriminatory police practices and unconstitutional searches and seizures. The letter offered zero specifics.

But we'd guess those specifics closely match the radical agenda of community organizers like La Raza, ACORN and other government-funded immigration lobbyists, all of whom launched a coordinated campaign "message" at about the same time.

Congress, meanwhile, has a witch hunt of its own going against Arpaio that popped up about the same time. This too is strange, because Arpaio has been at it since 1993 and hasn't changed a bit.

Sure, like Rush Limbaugh, Arpaio's an easy target. He's bombastic and carries out his duties with gusto. That's why he's popular with Arizona voters and a target of open-border activists.

We trust that Sheriff Arpaio is more than able to defend himself against these vague allegations. But to go after him at a time like this also strikes us as being an egregiously misplaced priority.

As everyone knows, there's a war coming up from Mexico that is fast spilling over into the United States. Arpaio's Phoenix now has the second-highest kidnapping rate in the world. It's a war all right, linked to the very smuggling crimes that Arpaio is fighting.

Going after him now sends a disturbing message about U.S. priorities to Mexico's organized criminals. They'll profit from an enfeebled law enforcement effort in that state, which is what this Justice bid would do.

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