Arizona Sheriff Goes Rogue, Doesn't "Take Orders from Anyone"

Reuters is reporting that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has, in my opinion, gone rogue--here are a couple excerpts from Reuters.com:

PHOENIX (Reuters) - An Arizona sheriff known for cracking down on undocumented migrants is conducting an immigration and crime sweep around Phoenix, less than a day after federal authorities curbed his powers to make immigration arrests.

And from a bit later in the article (emph added by me):

"Nothing has changed," Arpaio said while overseeing the operation in a suburb northwest of Phoenix. "We're still going to be doing what we've been doing tonight and during the last two and a half years. I don't take orders from anyone."

I know the quality of America's democracy has been called into question before but I'm pretty sure sherifs still have bosses and, I believe, are even elected. This means Arpaio does take orders and claiming otherwise suggests he's gone the way of General Ripper in Dr. Strangelove.

Of course the thing that bugs me almost as much as a media that doesn't see the need to point out how inappropriate (and possibly illegal) it is for Arpaio to arrest 8 people who couldn't prove they were in the country legally, is that almost no one in the media or in government talks about the real core issue here:

Illegal immigration would be almost non-existent if American businesses would not break the law by hiring illegal immigrants.

No demmand for cheap labor means no supply.

That's one of the basic laws of doing business.

When are we going to realize that capitalism, itself, is at the heart of most of the problems we're facing?

Health care reform is about protecting human health over a company's "right" to make as much money as it can.

Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are about securing oil/natural gas for energy companies and about creating new markets for corporate goods and services.

Our economic crash was about banks making as much money as they could off of us and our money.

Illegal Immigration is largely about businesses who don't want to pay minimum wage.

End. Of. Story.

Why doesn't Arpaio go after the criminals that hire these "illegals?"

Posted via email from thepete's posterous