The self-proclaimed “toughest sheriff in America” has never gotten so much resistance from the federal government.

The Homeland Security Department wants Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz., to stop arresting illegal immigrants whose only crime was crossing the U.S.-Mexico border without documents.

The thing is, Arpaio doesn’t much care.

“I’m not going to bend to the federal government, I’m going to do my job,” he said. “I don’t report to the federal government, I report to the people.”

Shifting winds in Washington have led the Homeland Security Department to rework a federal program that has allowed Arpaio’s deputies to make federal immigration arrests since February 2007.

We link to Associated Press Article

Tags: Department Of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigration News, SHERIFF JOE ARPAIO, USCIS

This entry was posted on Monday, August 3rd, 2009 at 4:51 pm and is filed under Department Of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigration News, USCIS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.