Text messages to warn illegal immigrants
I have written before about the sheriff of Maricopa County, Joe Arpaio, and the raids he conducts in his jurisdiction. Much to the chagrin of the Immigration and Custom Enforcement, he continues to order the raids, even though they have ordered him to stop. His theory is that he was not elected by ICE, but by the people of Maricopa County, Arizona, and he will enforce the law in that county. He has some rather unique methods, but they are effective. The raids in question are always 
publicized before they take place, but an advocate for immigrant and civil rights is taking matters into her own hands, literally.
Lydia Guzman is the director of the nonprofit immigrant advocacy group Respect/Respeto and she has begun sending out text messages to several groups, warning them what the good sheriff is up to on his raids. Those groups include the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, Copwatch and various immigrant-rights groups such as Somos America and Puente. She says they are responsible for sending the messages to their respective groups.
NO TO RACIAL PROFILING - YES TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
There has been a lively debate about the raids in question and the tactics Sheriff Arpaio and his men use to conduct them. Both sides have gone back and forth over the issue of racial profiling and if it is being used or not. Personally, I don’t see a thing wrong with the way Sheriff Arpaio conducts these raids. He is looking for criminals, which includes illegal immigrants. Given the area they are in and the very nature of the crime of illegal immigration, most of the illegal immigrants in Arizona are going to be Latino or Hispanic. There is no way to avoid that fact and just because the Sheriff and his deputies have arrested 669 people since March 18, 2008, with about half of those arrests on immigration charges, does not mean he is guilty of unfairly profiling because of race.
Guzman says she is doing this to prevent Latinos and Hispanics from being unfairly targeted because of their race and she even concedes that some of those who receive her text warnings probably use them to avoid detection and arrest. She is apparently okay with that, even though they are criminals and are actively breaking the law. Evidently, the good she is doing by sending out the text messages outweighs the fact that she is helping criminals in their quest to break the laws of this country. She also brings up the fact that text messages are protected as free speech. Kind of ironic, don’t you think? She takes advantage of the freedoms we have in America to keep criminals from being arrested.
This entire scenario highlights one of the major problems we are facing in America today. No one
can deny we have an illegal immigration problem. It has been ongoing for decades now and no matter what political party is in power, it never changes. Our borders are porous and those who have the authority to stem the tide are not willing to do so. Enter Sheriff Joe Arpaio and other law enforcement officials who try to do their job and we have people living in this country who actively work to subvert them. Even though criminals are helped in their quest to break the law, those who do so feel justified because they are helping minorities, protecting their civil rights, and to the devil with the laws of this country. The rights of illegal immigrants clearly come before the laws of America.
Just for the sake of argument, let’s see you or me try that tactic, helping someone break the law because we may disagree with the law. How far do you suppose we would get before law enforcement officials would be breathing down our necks? Not very far, I say and rightfully so. So, I ask the question, why is the crime of illegal immigration any different? What gives Lydia Guzman or anyone else the right to hamper law enforcement officials in the process of doing their job, just because it has to do with a minority group?
More and more, we are seeing the rights of law-abiding citizens in this country taking a back seat to the rights of those who are breaking the law by being in America illegally. To Lydia Guzman and other advocates, here is a newsflash. The people you are helping are breaking the law and by proxy, so are you. Your free speech rights should not protect you from that fact, but because of the unwillingness of our political parties to fix this problem, you seem to have a free pass. Hopefully, that free pass will be taken away in the near future. If it isn’t, here is a newsflash to those who do not believe this is a problem. The image of the flag above may become more of a reality than you think.
Two thoughts on this one.
First, and WOW- to charge this effort off as racially biased is just silly.
Second: I have some professional experience with Sheriff Joe and his organization. He runs a tight ship and has some interesting, common sense and hard-nosed approaches to incarceration. Because of this, recitivism (at least direct) is relatively low for those staying as a “guest” at the Maricopa Co. jail, and the Sheriff should be commended…And emulated.
Arpaio also has butted heads with the Feds regarding non-enforcement and has attempted to augment with his own departmental efforts. Again, commendable. BUT- he has also actively courted publicity surrounding these efforts, to the point where it is not conducive to healthy law enforcement.
He has a media relations department to deal with his personal interviews, appearances etc, directly related to both his creative approach to incarceration (Google “American Idle” for a sample) and his border control efforts. Fine. But I think, in the above case, he shot his own foot. What is the point of well-publicized raids? He seems to be running his own game by his own rules (and I understand that the Feds make this possible) with no regard to true border security.
Condemn the woman who is texting the alerts to help thwart the Sheriff’s efforts. But you also have to question a Sheriff who publicizes raids. Illegals looking for cheap jobs and the good life aren’t the only people trying to sneak in. If you were a terrorist, wouldn’t you make an effort to come in through Mexico and make sure that you did it in the Maricopa sector? That way, all you really have to do is wait for the alerts regarding raids…And walk on through the next day.
I had always thought those who live south of the border belonged to the white race. I have many friends south of the border who consider themselves white. Racial profiling of latinos seem silly to me in that when I see a mexican I see a white person. Sure some are darker than other and just like some in the black community the light skinned ones tend to look down on the dark skinned ones. Thats their problem and not mine. I use to laugh at some of my mexican friends at the beach–while I was getting a good tan they were hiding under the beach umbrellas to avoid getting to dark. Its a crazy world we live in. I welcome legal immigration, but those who come here and begin by breaking the law at the border, well I have no use for you and those you bring with you. Get out of my country or respect our laws.
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Say what you will about the sheriff, he is getting results, and it’s driving the left nuts (which I would consider to be a sign of said success).
I also agree with Laurie, with one exception. Regarding publicity, every PD on the planet publicizes a big arrest. And the media shows up to cover the “perp walk.” I can’t see that being any different.
As for the person warning the illegals, she is aiding and abetting. There are laws I don’t like, and speak out about why I oppose them. I still however, file a tax return each year. I guess some laws are OK to violate.
Matt,
I understand the PR/media game well, and yes departments publicize big arrests- typically after they’ve been made. Serious, covert and successful law enforcement, however, isn’t usually preceded by publicity that tips off targets of a raid. Sheriff Joe is finding more value in the “media event” than he is in the actual event. Who has the most to gain from that?
A point well made!
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I’m a bit harsh on the publicity side of this, but here’s a link to a short article that shows the best of Sheriff Arpaio’s policies. My favotire quote of his, in answer to inmates who say his policies are “unfair”:
“Then don’t come back.”
http://www.mcso.org/include/modules/Faq/pdf/Get_Tough_Philosophy.pdf
Yes, the good Sheriff has some interesting and very effective ideas about crime and punishment. Some of them sound like something my Dad would come up with. I especially like his theory that our jails and prisons should not allow their residents to live better than they would on the outside. That is a very valid point.
Guzman admits that she may be helping people to break the law, this makes her an accessory after the fact. This makes her a criminal also. As you said, you cannot break the law just because you don’t agree with it. These people who came here illegally are criminals, and should be treated as such.
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Personally, I do not think Sheriff Arpaio should be publicizing his upcoming raids. The first thing the criminals should know about the, no matter if they are illegal immigrants or some other criminal, is when it is too late to escape the handcuffs.
Thanks for all the comments and the discussion.
You know Larry I was told this past week that we have a CHURCH right here in Tulsa that provides fake documents to illegal immigrants! Can you imagine that! I was stunned to say the least! It’s a Catholic church and the issue green cards, passports, whatever you might need. Fake as fake can be.
If our churches are doing this, how do we expect to stop this?
See, that is just wrong. They are openly subverting the laws of America and feel justified in their actions. It’s hard for me to understand why they do so.
If you can find out the name of the church, send me an email. I would be interested in checking it out.
I don’t know much more about Sheriff Joe than what I’ve read here so excuse me if I make a factual mistake; but it strikes me that this Guzman woman has done nothing legally wrong — morally and ethically, yes, but I don’t see how she can be considering aiding and abetting or an accessory after the fact if the good Sheriff is stupid enough to publicize his raids before the fact. In that case all she is doing is reporting information already in the public domain. And from what Larry reported she is not sending the information directly to illegal immigrants but to other groups who may choose or not to forward that information on. It seems to me Laurie’s focus on the publicity side of Joe’s activities is bang on — he sounds like a self-promoter much more interested in his public image than in effective law enforcement. The two seem completely incompatible. From what I’ve read I take no issue with his approach though I don’t know whether actual enforcement of national immigration law is a local issue that should be enforced by local police. How would that work in Miami where the vast majority of residents are Hispanic? Do you just arrest every resident of Miami to see if they’re legal? Now Dominque’s example — THAT’S a crime worth investigating. Very strange!
What Lydia Guzman is doing may not be legally wrong, but her intent leaves much to be desired. As for Sheriff Joe’s publicity, he has faced a lot of criticism for some of his tactics and he may be going public to help fight that fire.
It’s my understanding that there are state laws the Joe operates under, and that allows him to ignore ‘crossing the border is not a crime’ Napolitano and the rest of the open borders crowd in Washington. He works for the people of Maricopa county, and they must love him in Arizona, despite what the msm may say, because according to Rasmussen, if he ran for governor to today, he would win-handily.
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