MSNBC
By Adam Howard
September 12, 2015
You
would think Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and
controversial Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio would be natural allies on the
issue of immigration — but think
again.
The
Maricopa County lawman — known as “America’s Toughest Sheriff” due to
his aggressive (and some have argued, overzealous) anti-illegal
immigration enforcement — took
issue with the Republican front-runner’s contention that undocumented
Mexicans are “rapists” and “murderers,” he explained in an interview
this week with Univision’s Jorge Ramos on “Fusion.”
“I
agree with him on one aspect, that we do have rapists and murders
coming across the border. But not everybody,” Arpaio told Ramos, the
journalist who made headlines
in August after a confrontation with Trump at a press conference.
“I
think Mr. Trump was frustrated at the many crimes committed in this
country by those from Mexico, including coming across the border
illegally –– that happens to be
a criminal offense,” Arpaio said later. “I don’t think the majority of
people from Mexico are rapists and murderers.”
Arpaio
also threw cold water on the notion of deporting the 11 million
estimated undocumented immigrants currently living within the U.S.,
which Trump has endorsed.
“If
the illegals don’t get caught or do anything wrong they’re not going to
get deported,” he told Ramos. “They got a pass. You’re not gonna go
into their house for no
reason other than you think that they’re here illegally. I’m not for
that.”
Although
Arpaio hasn’t endorsed anyone in the 2016 race, he has seemed to have
an affinity for Trump. The two appeared together at a Phoenix rally in
July that reportedly
drew more than 500 supporters. Arpaio’s name has even been floated as a
potential dark horse vice presidential pick should Trump win the GOP
nomination for president.
“Why
would I have a demotion? Right now, I’m the top guy. You think I want
to go be a second?” Arpaio told Ramos about the possibility of being VP.
He declined to endorse
Trump, saying the front-runner “never asked” him for his support.
Meanwhile,
the 83-year-old remains a deeply divisive figure. In 2013, a federal
judge ruled that Arpaio was unconstitutionally racially profiling
Latinos. And he faces
being held in contempt of court for deliberately ignoring an order to
stop. The Justice Department has also reported incidents where his
employees used racially offensive language to describe Mexicans.
“If
you talk about three or four instances, which I believe it was, we took
action on that,” Arpaio told Ramos. “We do have — you’re gonna be
shocked at this and I can
prove it — 35% of our staff is minorities. Thirty percent are
Hispanic.”
“If I am prejudiced, I wouldn’t be hiring 30% Hispanics, that’s for sure,” he added.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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