“I Am Not a Racist”

Joe Arpaio likes to present himself, as he does in his book, as the toughest sheriff in the entire U.S. But for many immigrants and Hispanics, Arpaio is simply the most hated sheriff. Since 1992, 78-year-old Arpaio has won five consecutive elections as the sheriff of Maricopa County, which covers the metropolitan area of Phoenix. He has become known for dressing his prisoners in pink and housing them in tents in the open air at temperatures of 130 degrees Fahrenheit, and for his tireless struggle to detain illegal immigrants.

One would think that the decision of federal judge Susan Bolton to block parts of the SB 1070 Arizona law would prevent Sheriff Arpaio and his agents from detaining, questioning, and arresting undocumented persons. But in a recent interview, I realized that Arpaio continues to act exactly the same as he did before.

“Nothing has changed,” he told me. “We keep doing our work.” And later he told me that the night before they had arrested dozens people, including three illegals. “I’m doing the same thing I’ve been doing for the last three years,” he said. “Nothing has changed.”

The main accusation being made by Latino and human rights organizations against Sheriff Arpaio is that he arrests people who seem to be Hispanic, solely because of their physical appearance and accented English. He denies it. “I apply the law to everyone. I arrest everyone, not just Latinos.”

“You don’t order your agents to detain people who seem to be Latino?” I asked him. “We never do that, That would be racial profiling.”

“We don’t do that.… Because of a lawsuit, the Department of Justice had me investigated for a year and a half to see if we use racial profiling. What’s the problem? We’re continuing on here.”

The Arizona executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, Alessandra Soler, told me in an interview that Latinos have a higher probability than whites of being detained by Arizona police. Arpaio does not agree. “Aside from the fact that they’re wrong, do you think that I pay attention to them? They like to question everyone. I don’t care what they say.”

“Well, tell me, what does an illegal immigrant look like?” He paused, looked me in the eyes and then answered, “I don’t know. They’re normal people.”

“And what do normal people look like?” “They’re just people, human beings.”

Sheriff Arpaio’s critics maintain that he should focus on pursuing real criminals — drug dealers, murderers, rapists, thieves — and not people who just want to find work. But to him, all undocumented people are “criminals.”

“The moment they cross our borders, they have violated our laws. What do you call that?” he says. “It’s a violation of the law. They are criminals. That is what the law says.”

Arpaio is an Italian name. His family is from Europe. “Legally,” he immediately points out. And if he were in charge of immigration politics in the United States, would he try to deport 11 million illegals? “I would do the same thing that we’re doing here,” he says.

In closing, Arpaio assures me that he has “compassion” for immigrants. But his obligation to carry out the law comes before compassion. “They call me Hitler and many other things, every day, in front of my offices. Is that going to keep me from doing my job? No. I am not a racist.”

*Editor’s note: An English-language source for this interview could not be located. The interview has been accurately translated.