WASHINGTON, D.C. ― President Donald Trump on Friday pardoned Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Arpaio was convicted of criminal contempt last month for violating a 2011 order that barred Arpaio and his office from detaining individuals solely based on suspicions about their legal status. Arpaio, 85, was scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 5.
“Throughout his time as Sheriff, Arpaio continued his life’s work of protecting the public from the scourges of crime and illegal immigration,” the White House said in a statement late Friday. “Sheriff Joe Arpaio is now eighty-five years old, and after more than fifty years of admirable service to our Nation, he is worthy candidate for a Presidential pardon.”
“Joe Arpaio must be held accountable for his long record of violating the civil rights of Maricopa County’s Latinx population, and carrying out a hate-filled agenda through extreme racial profiling,” said HRC Senior Vice President for Policy and Political Affairs JoDee Winterhof. “During his tenure, Arpaio has attacked nearly every marginalized community, including using anti-LGBTQ schemes to humiliate inmates at his ‘Tent City’ prison. By pardoning Arpaio, Trump is again aligning himself with his nationalist, racist, anti-LGBTQ supporters — only two weeks after the violent extremism in Charlottesville.”
Arpaio additionally campaigned against the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which provides much needed relief for undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children. DACA allows these young people to come out of the shadows and live fully within their communities — including 75,000 LGBTQ Dreamers.
Tonight, friends of Latino Victory Project reacted to Trump’s decision to pardon former Arpaio.
“For the second time in one week, President Trump has sided with bigotry,” said former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro. “During his tenure as sheriff, Arpaio terrorized the Latino community, undermining our human and civil rights. It’s time for Arizona state authorities to step up and do what this Administration has refused to do – hold Arpaio accountable for breaking the law.”
“It’s no surprise that the President would defend a fellow birther and an unrepentant bigot,” said Melissa Mark-Viverito, Speaker of the New York City Council. “This is exactly what we’ve come to expect from Trump’s morally bankrupt leadership. I urge Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich to pursue charges at the state level.”
“Today’s pardon of Sheriff Joe Arpaio is a failure of leadership – at the federal and state levels,” said former Assistant Attorney General January Contreras. “In 1997, Arizona’s Republican Attorney General took a stand against racial profiling of Latino Arizonans. Sadly, our current Attorney General hasn’t shown the same commitment to uphold the law.”
