Late on Friday night—with a massive hurricane about to make landfall in Texas—Donald Trump pardoned former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio:
Today, President Donald J. Trump granted a Presidential pardon to Joe Arpaio, former Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona. Arpaio’s life and career, which began at the age of 18 when he enlisted in the military after the outbreak of the Korean War, exemplify selfless public service. After serving in the Army, Arpaio became a police officer in Washington, D.C. and Las Vegas, NV and later served as a Special Agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), formerly the Bureau of Narcotics. After 25 years of admirable service, Arpaio went on to lead the DEA’s branch in Arizona.
In 1992, the problems facing his community pulled Arpaio out of retirement to return to law enforcement. He ran and won a campaign to become Sheriff of Maricopa County. Throughout his time as Sheriff, Arpaio continued his life’s work of protecting the public from the scourges of crime and illegal immigration. Sheriff Joe Arpaio is now eighty-five years old, and after more than fifty years of admirable service to our Nation, he is worthy candidate for a Presidential pardon.
Last month, Arpaio was found guilty of criminal contempt of court by a federal judge and faced up to six months in prison. The judge had determined that Arpaio, a Republican who lost his bid for re-election last year after making a career of abusing immigrants and prisoners, had willfully violated an earlier court order instructing him not to detain immigrants who were not suspected of any crimes.
It’s one racist looking out for another—and undermining the rule of law to do so.
