Protest Sheriff Joe/posse, Andrew Thomas : AZ IMC

Please join us in protest against Sheriff Joe's and Andrew Thomas's anti-immigrant crusade.

We are protesting the misuse of local law enforcement and civilian volunteers in the anti-immigrant crusade of County Attorney Andrew Thomas and Sheriff Joe Arpaio. The march will begin at the Sheriffs Office, 100 W. Washington St. in Phoenix at 8:30 am. It will conclude at Andrew Thomass office, 301 W. Jefferson at 10 am.

At the protest, we will present the following demands:
1. That Andrew Thomas and Sheriff Arpaio stop misinterpreting the
anti-smuggling law to arrest and prosecute suspected undocumented migrants as smuggling conspirators
2. That all persons arrested under this law be immediately released from custody
3. That Sheriff Joe stop using armed civilian volunteers to hunt for
migrants

Reasonable law enforcement agencies around the country, including the LAPD and Phoenix PD, understand that local police have no business enforcing immigration laws by definition, a federal issue. Local enforcement of immigration will only lead to a chilling effect among immigrant communities, making people less likely to report crimes or ask for help from the police. Do we really want to keep a woman from calling the cops on her abusive husband because shes afraid she will be deported?

Now Sheriff Joe is sending armed civilian volunteers out into the desert and the streets of Phoenix to hunt down suspected migrants. Phoenix Copwatch is very concerned that this move will only inflame an already volatile situation and will inevitably lead to racial profiling.

Phoenix Copwatch is a civilian group formed to combat abuse by the
police in our community. We use a variety of means to fight police abuse including community patrols, videotaping, and community education.
Copwatch is completely independent from the police, all other law enforcement agencies, the government, and all political parties. More information about Phoenix Copwatch can be found at our website: http://www.phoenixcopwatch.org

see also: http://arizona.indymedia.org/news/2006/04/41017.php
http://arizona.indymedia.org/news/2006/06/44033.php

"Confronting Confinement”: Bi-Partisan Commission Criticizes Size, Conditions and Racial Make-Up of U.S. Prison System
Tuesday, June 13th, 2006

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/06/13/140210
The Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons argues the country’s prison system has fallen victim to overcrowding; overzealous incarceration; abuse; unaccountability and inadequate health care. Among its recommendations are to dramatically reduce the use of physical force and prisoner segregation. It also calls on expanding prisoner access to Medicare and Medicaid.

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A bi-partisan commission is drawing praise from across a wide political spectrum for a new report on prison reform. The report is called "Confronting Confinement" by the Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons. The 20-member commission includes prison administrators, prisoner-rights advocates, religious representatives and members of both main political parties. The report follows a year-long inquiry that included public hearings in four major cities.

The report argues the country’s prison system has fallen victim to overcrowding; overzealous incarceration; abuse; unaccountability and inadequate health care. Among its recommendations are to dramatically reduce the use of physical force and prisoner segregation. It also calls on expanding prisoner access to Medicare and Medicaid. The report singles out treatment for the 400,000 prisoners suffering from mental-illness, calling jails "the new asylums."

The report also concludes: "we should be astonished by the size of the prisoner population, troubled by the disproportionate incarceration of African Americans and Latinos, and saddened by the waste of human potential."

At 2.2 million, the US has the highest prison population in the world -- and it’s only growing. According to the Justice Department, the prison population added 56,000 new prisoners last year – an average of 1,000 per week – for an increase of three percent.

Michael Jacobson, director of the Vera Institute of Justice, which put together the Prison Commission. From 1995 to 1998, he served as the New York City Correction Commissioner. Before that he served as New York City’s Probation Commissioner. He is a former professor at the City University of New York Graduate Center and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He is the author of “Downsizing Prisons: How to Reduce Crime and End Mass Incarceration.”

http://www.democracynow.org

I appreciate that Phoenix Copwatch has the right to and is committed to watch over law enforcement entities.

Regarding those who are smuggled into the USA by coyotes: How can they not be co-conspirators when they have full knowledge that crossing our border any other way than by legal process is against the law? THATS WHY THEY PAY THE COYOTE! Wake up! In presenting your case and protest for decriminalizing the smuggle-ee you also present our Mexican neighbors as extremely unintelligent! They wouldn't have to pay money and travel in secret unless it was A CRIME! Are they victimized by the coyote along the way? Oh, yeah! Apparently it is the chance they buy into when they hand over the money. Their isn't a Mexican National alive over 16 years of age that doesn't know the chance they are taking signing up to be smuggled across the border.
It's too bad they don't center that committment, sacrifice, energy and belief in a better way of live across the fence into their own side of the fence! Many of our own have paid the price for freedom and pursuit for happiness in the USA. What I see (including in my own work place) those who would rather have all this at someone else's expense. The very act of crossing our border ILLEGALLY whether it be via smuggling, or just not returning to the very country they seem to be so proud of as their visa expires shows poor character and lack of self respect-and their country.
Sherriff Arpaio doesn't make or interpret the law.Just when a law enforcement officer finally adheres to the immigration laws (when others have turned their head and abandoned them), you critize him!
Sorry Phoenix Copwatch...you can't expect support from me on this one.

Oh c'mon -- Sheriif Joe interprets the law all the time. And built into all of his interpretations is how to maximize his PR potential. If you're suggesting that Arpaio is some kind of impartial god of law...then you're talking about sheriff joe from another universe!

Oh c'mon -- Sheriff Joe interprets the law all the time. And built into all of his interpretations is how to maximize his PR potential. If you're suggesting that Arpaio is some kind of impartial god of law...then you're talking about sheriff joe from another universe!

"Phoenix copwatch" followed through with their promise to field some anti-Sheriff demonstrators. The final count? There were SEVEN of them. Apparently there isn't enough police abuse in the Valley of the Sun to interest more than a small handful of demonstrators.

Maybe "Phoenix copwatch" should dissolve its organization and find a better cause to protest. Perhaps they should form a picket line outside businesses that hire "undocumented immigrants." Now that would be an important cause deserving of protest!

I hope every illegal that shows up to this protest gets arrested and drop kicked back across the border.

What I really love about this story is how all these folks who are always screaming about how those dang illegals are sucking up gazillions of taxpayer dollars don't even blink when royal bozos and petty tyrants like Arpaio and Thomas waste state dollars pursuing this ridiculous case. More dollar-wasting's a'coming!

How about if Terry Goddard charges Arpaio and Thomas with conspiracy to defraud the taxpayers of the state of Arizona?