Arpaio cites non-existent law in his argument for crime sweeps

[pampango]

Source: azcentral.com

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio cited a non-existent federal law and included a legal interpretation taken from an anti-immigration Web site in a document he distributed during a news conference last week.

Arpaio used the document to bolster his claim that he can continue to arrest undocumented immigrants during controversial crime sweeps even without a special agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

ICE stripped Arpaio of the authority to let deputies enforce federal immigration laws on the street under a revised agreement amid criticism that the sweeps are an excuse to hunt for illegal immigrants by stopping Latino motorists for minor traffic violations, an illegal practice known as profiling.

Arpaio initially denied knowing which Web site. He later said it came from the Cornell University Law School's Web site. However, the interpretation actually originated on the Federation for American Immigration Reform Web site and has been reposted by anti-immigrant and border-control groups. Washington, D.C.,-based FAIR opposes immigration, legal and illegal. The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated the organization as a hate group, which FAIR vehemently denies.

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2009/10/16/20091016arpaio1016.html