Race and the Rule of Law in Maricopa County

So many people are thinking it: Arpaio and his collaborators are putting the law into question, especially with the latest lawsuits and the disproportionate ways in which the laws have been enforced. After the stories on the singing protest of Arpaio that caused him to walk out on an interview, a news search for Arpaio will give you these stories: Arpaio and County Attorney Andrew Thomas are suing several judges and other county officials, and an MCSO officer recently got jail time for contempt of court for not apologizing for stealing files from a defense lawyers folder (and the resulting chaos involving a walk-out and a bomb threat, and the likelihood that the officer is in Arpaio's fancy jail for his allies).

When you hear statement after statement from the sheriff and county attorney and others that they're enforcing the law- that undocumented people are stopped/jailed because they're breaking the law, and then on top of that they all seem confused about what is actually legal or illegal and law-breaking cops get different treatment, you can't help but find that they are amazingly hypocritical.

What I'm getting at certainly isn't that we should be concerned that the sheriff and county attorney and others are making a mockery of law enforcement or the rule of law in general. The purpose of bringing these things up in relation to immigration is to point out that the rule of law is and always has been used to work in certain people's favor- those in power and with money, and to work against anyone who is a threat to holding onto that power and money. It's not quite as simple as that when you have a local sheriff giving a big middle finger to the federal and local governments- certainly they don't all work together.

Arpaio consistently says he's enforcing the law. Yet, he apparently doesn't even know what law he's talking about, and belongs to the camp that is looking for new ways to change the law to further criminalize migrants. At the same time he says things like, "This is yet another example of my continued promise to enforce all the illegal immigration laws in Maricopa County regardless of the ever changing policies emanating from Washington D.C."

And what about the latest shenanigans with the MCSO officer?

On Wednesday, the morning after a sheriff's detention officer reported to jail to serve a contempt of court sentence, 20 of his colleagues called in sick for work at the Maricopa County Superior Court Buildings in Phoenix.

Those same buildings were evacuated for three hours Wednesday morning when a bomb threat was called in targeting public defenders, the Arizona Republic reported. (Source).

(Gee, they wouldn't have called in a threat to prove a point, would they?)
Arpaio says he's an equal opportunity enforcer of the law. How can you not see the inconsistency?

It's not inconsistent, however, with the way law enforcement has been used to enforce the color line. We can see this with their origins in the slave patrols, the relationship between the klan and the police, to, for example, the death of Fred Hampton forty years ago, other efforts against groups that empower their communities, as well as the drug war, racial profiling, and now the anti-immigrant efforts. As I state in No Borders or Prison Walls,

The war against “illegal” immigration is just one part of institutional racism, except this is an example that makes it all the more clear that crimes have been made out of the actions of people because of who they are. It is clear that the law has been used purposefully to render people powerless and exploitable.

Although the lawsuits against other county officials don't quite fit into this whole concept, it is allowed to happen because the other activities of the MCSO are congruent with the larger purpose of government control (see also, Federal Government will not be Maricopa County's Savior).

In Our Enemies in Blue, Kristian Williams expands on the fact that sometimes the police and the government are at odds, and why this is still acceptable. Talking mainly about police brutality, he says,

The police may violate the law, as long as they do so in the pursuit of ends that people with power generally endorse, and from which such people profit. This idea may become clear if we consider police brutality and other illegal tactics in relations to lawful policing: When the police enforce the law, they do unevenly, in ways that give disproportionate attention to the activities of poor people, people of color and others near the bottom of the social pyramid. And when the police violate the law, these same people are their most frequent victims. This is a coincidence too large to overlook. If we put aside, for the moment, all questions of legality, it must become quite clear that the object of police attention, and the target of police violence, is overwhelmingly the portion of the population that lacks real power. And this is precisely the point: police activities, legal or illegal, violent or non-violent, tend to keep people who currently stand at the bottom of the social hierarchy in their place, where they belong- at the bottom.

I've heard some say that Arpaio isn't racist, he's just a in it for the media and the power. Yet Arpaio (and Andrew Thomas, and Russell Pearce, and ICE, etc.) is participating in the criminalization and the incarceration and terrorization of people of color. Institutionalized racism benefits those in power. Whether or not they are bigoted or not, they participate in it, and they gain from it, at the expense of people's lives and dignity. And if they are okay with that and even celebrate it, how can you not call them racist?

Yet, they maintain that it's all about the law. The law, or the importance of enforcing it, often comes down to what undocumented immigrants are allegedly costing us as citizens (for an example, see Russell Pearce's latest). Yet, how much are all these lawsuits costing us? How about Andrew Thomas’ Battle Against Spanish-Language DUI Probation Has Cost Us a Half-Million Dollars. But Who's Counting? And lawsuits against Arpaio have cost at least $41 million (Source). That's not even counting the cost of the lawsuits he's brought against others. And all the investigations into various opponents of his. And all the sweeps. And his expensive office in the Wells Fargo building costing $650,000 per year in rent when he already has an office in a county building.

We don't even need to ask why it's apparently okay with so many citizens that these officials are wasting our tax dollars but not okay for undocumented immigrants to allegedly cost us so much (which is actually quite doubtful). The money argument is illegitimate and the rule of law crap is bogus. We can see what is behind this. An eminent threat: too many brown people and an undermining of the oppressive order of things. This is why we must challenge white people on their racism. We need to point out the areas that are inconsistent and hypocritical. They themselves might not see it. It's up to us to understand it and to make them understand it. (For a recent discussion of this in context, see The NSM offers nothing for the white working class but more exploitation and misery.) I'll leave you with this quote from senator Russell Pearce.

There is currently a battle raging in this country that will determine whether our nation enforces its immigration laws and secures its borders or becomes victim of its enemies. We are a Nation built upon the “Rule of Law” and either we stand up for the principles that our Founding Fathers gave us to ensure lasting Liberty, enshrined in a Constitution that protects those liberties or we destroy all that is sacred and the end result will be a nation who commits suicide. Illegal immigration is the Trojan Horse and we must secure our borders and enforces our laws.

Release them all! Stop jailing migrants!

The following is text i wrote that was printed on a flier that was distributed during the rally at the end of the march to sheriff joe's jails. The other part of the flier is Blood on the Line: Resistance, Empire and Repression at the Border.


We've heard the stories: Undocumented immigrants are getting kidnapped and held for ransom, and perhaps found in drop houses if the police get a tip. The migrants are vulnerable targets because they have been criminalized by the state. Something we don't hear too much about is that the biggest armed gang in the country is kidnapping migrants and holding them against their will. They're not holding them in drop houses; these uniformed kidnappers are handcuffing the migrants and incarcerating them in jails and detention centers.

If we feel that it is tragic when traffickers do it, why do we let the police get away with it? Whether they are "rescued" from traffickers, stopped while driving in one of Arpaio's sweeps, or confronted with the ridiculous charge of conspiracy to smuggle themselves, migrants get caught up in the US prison system for no other reason but crossing a man-made line in the sand.

Arpaio, taking pleasure in humiliating brown-skinned people and getting cheers from racists, stands out as the villain of Maricopa County. But the other police departments are acting in similar, more quiet ways. While migrants and activists wait to hear what the federal government will do to save us from Sheriff Joe, the Department of Homeland Security is holding hundreds of thousands of people- triple the number of people in detention just ten years ago- in detention centers. If they end 287g they will only replace it with something more tasteful; something called "Secure Communities" which will target our "criminal alien" population. Meanwhile our legislature is coming up with new ways to criminalize migrants.

Migrants have been criminalized for who they are and where they are from- not for doing harm. If anything is harmful, it's punishing people for trying to survive the results of colonialism, capitalism, and globalization (which most US citizens enjoy the benefits of). When it is nearly impossible to make a living and nearly impossible to migrate legally, anyone would travel to where they have more opportunities. Why then would advocates for immigrants' rights legitimize the arrests of undocumented immigrants by complaining only about the "legal" people who get caught up in the racial profiling sweeps? We mustn't buy into the efforts to divide us! We need to bring down the walls between us, as well as the physical walls- the border walls, the jail walls, and the walls of the detention centers.

It should be a crime to imprison people for trying to survive!

Maricopa County Jail Inmates on Hunger Strike

It's always good news when inmates are organizing. This latest hunger strike in Sheriff Joe's jails is the 2nd or 3rd i've heard of in the last few years. So far i think things have only gotten worse, but somehow i feel that the people have more power lately.

It would be interesting to see how much the march to the jails last weekend had to do with this hunger strike, besides what Reza says, quoted below, about how the inmates were not allowed to bathe, etc. while on lockdown because of the march.

What is unclear is how much this hunger stike has to do with Arpaio's immigration enforcement. I had thought it would be a good idea, back when Arpaio was going to start charging for food, that people make the connection to the inmates, some of which are undocumented but many of which are not, that he has to charge for food because of how much he's spending on immigration enforcement. I had since learned that the food charges did not go into effect, although i'm not sure about that.

Anyway, Reza is quoted below as saying that they were going to the board of supervisors' meeting, but referenced the immigration enforcement instead of the jail conditions. The two are related, but again, it's unclear to what extent the hunger strike is related to the immigration enforcement.

Now that the news has come out, i hope that other inmates join the strike and that there are more solidarity actions in the coming days.

Hunger Strike in Joe Arpaio's Jails: 500 Reportedly Refusing to Eat Because of Bad Food
By Stephen Lemons in Feathered Bastard
Tuesday, May. 5 2009 @ 10:17PM

Phoenix civil rights activist Salvador Reza and Univision Channel 33 are reporting that there is a hunger strike on in Joe's jails, with about 500 prisoners joining in the action to protest the atrocious food served in Arpaio's incarceration complex.

Reza, who led a march of thousands on Joe's jails on May 2, explained that he heard about the protest from a family member of one of those hunger striking in Durango Jail. Reza issued a press release earlier today stating the following:

"A relative of a prisoner in Durango Jail communicated today that up to 500 prisoners declared an indefinite hunger strike until the conditions within MCSO jails change. They are protesting the food conditions, the mistreatment, and the arrogance, and the human rights abuses. They are especially incensed at the treatment given to them by Sheriff Joe. During the May 2, 2009 March for Respect prisoners were not allowed to bathe, leave their cells, they were not even allowed to speak to anyone."

I confirmed the report of 500 hunger strikers in the jails through a county employee, but Univision Channel 33 beat me to the punch, interviewing a family member who described paint chips in the food and worms in oranges. The strikers vow to hold out for as long as their bodies can stand it, or till they are provided with better food.

Univision also scored an interview with Arpaio, where he played off the potential crisis.
"That's their problem," he told the Spanish-language channel. "If they're trying to send me a message, it's not going to work."

Reza vowed to support the strikers at Wednesday morning's Maricopa County Board of Supervisor's meeting.

"We will talk to the Board of Supervisors," said Reza, "a family member of one of the strikers will talk to the Board of Supervisors. And we will ask them to stop funding Arpaio's immigration sweeps and to unanimously ask [Homeland Security chief] Janet Napolitano to revoke his 287(g) agreement."

Reza also stated that he will hold a press conference on the issue Wednesday at 11 a.m. outside the Sandra Day O'Connor U.S. District Court building. He will encourage family members of those being held in MCSO facilities to join a candlelight vigil for the hunger strikers at 7 p.m. the same day.

Joe often boasts of how poor the food is in his facilities, and that he feeds the canines in his kennels better than his prisoners. Recently, he started charging inmates money from their prison accounts for the two meals they receive daily.

Maricopa County's citizens have endorsed Joe's cruelty time and time again, despite the fact that 70 percent of those in Joe's custody are awaiting trial. Nor does this barbarism improve recidivism rates, though it does get Joe plenty of media, and votes.