President Trump Pardon’s Sheriff Joe Arpaio

Last updated on: August 26, 2017 at 1:40 am by Kermit Zarley

President Trump Pardon’s Sheriff Joe Arpaio 2017-08-26T01:40:40-07:00 Kermit Zarley

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

President Donald Trump just now pardoned Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Arizona. That is where I live. Three days ago, when President Trump held a rally here in Phoenix and gave a lengthy speech, he indicated he was going to pardon Arpaio. Sheriff Joe was recently convicted by a federal court of disobeying a federal judge, and the penalty imposed upon him is that he is supposed to be imprisoned for several months. President Trump said in that speech, “Do the people in this room like Sheriff Joe?” Of course, that stirred up Trump’s base supporters who were present. Trump added, “the sheriff is going to be just fine, okay?”

Maricopa County is large. It encompasses not only Phoenix, the sixth largest city in population in the U.S., but also the several cities surrounding Phoenix. Joe Arpaio has been the sheriff of Maricopa County for 25 years. He finally lost an election months ago, so that he is presently retired. Sheriff Joe is 85 years old.

As the sheriff of Maricopa County, Joe Arpaio has been an extremely polarizing figure. He has been very vocal in claiming to be America’s most law-and-order sheriff, calling himself America’s Toughest Sheriff. Here in Arizona, our state is one of four states on the U.S.-Mexico border. Sheriff Joe has gained a national reputation in his efforts to arrest illegals who enter the U.S. across this border. Most of the time in the past several years, the Arizona-Mexico border has been the most porous because more illegals have crossed it than any of those borders of the other three states that border Mexico.

Sheriff Arpaio also gained national recognition for certain treatment of victims in Maricopa jails. Due to lack of space, Arpaio established outdoor prison facilities, called Tent City, in this hot desert environment. We often have temperatures that exceed 110 degrees. Last July, we had high temperatures of 117-119 three days in a row. Sheriff Joe also had his inmates dressed in pink underwear which got both serious criticism and many laughs.

In 2011, a federal judge ruled that Maricopa County law enforcement was illegally profiling especially Latinos in its effort to prevent illegal immigration. So, this was the first time a federal court warned Sheriff Joe Arpaio to stop profiling people, and thus stopping them and questioning them, based on race. But Sheriff Joe and his officers disobeyed the judge, and thus the rule of law, and continued as usual. Sheriff Joe’s conduct represented a contempt for a federal judge and therefore the law. He was accused of various misconduct that included racial profiling, abuse of inmates, misuse of funds, and election law violations. Thus, the sheriff, who was sworn into office to uphold the law, was now being accused as a lawbreaker.

In the following years, there was a continuing federal court process that dealt with this problem with Sheriff Joe Arpaio. It was constantly in the newspaper, The Arizona Republic, which I read everyday. When Sheriff Joe did begin to follow the dictates of the court, such as further training of officers in making stops of suspected lawbreakers, the sheriff’s department was slow to acquiesce.

All this time, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office was piling up legal expenses to defend itself in court. And who was paying for these legal expenses? It sure wasn’t Sheriff Joe, who could have just obeyed the court and thus not piled up such expenses. It was us Maricopa County taxpayers. The total of these legal expenses have now exceeded $75 million. Tax experts claim this expense will continue to mount for years to come as Sheriff Joe’s defense continues, yet with him as a retired citizen of Maricopa County.

Did President Trump pardon Sheriff Joe Arpaio because Trump had such a conviction about being a law-and-order president. No way! Donald Trump is mostly about Donald Trump. Sheriff Joe Arpaio was perhaps the most prominent Arizona citizen who supported Donald Trump during the seven times he campaigned in this state for the Republican nomination for president and as the Republican nominee. Joe Arpaio appeared on the platform multiple times when Trump spoke. Sometimes, the sheriff spoke as well.

I think pardoning Sheriff Joe was mostly a political decision and thus not really a law-and-order decision. Yes, President Trump is within the law to pardon Joe Arpaio. However, the normal process in doing so is for the victim to have served some time in prison before being pardoned. Arpaio is not incarcerated; rather, he is now undergoing the appeals process. So, it appears that President Trump has pardoned Joe Arpaio just as much due the sheriff’s support of Donald Trump for president as for the sheriff’s activities in arresting illegals. Obviously, it’s both. But Trump doing this appears as a disrespect for law and may serve as an ominous sign of the future. That is, if people in Trump’s campaign for president, or even afterwards in serving in his presidential administration, are convicted of any crimes due to the special counsel Mueller’s investigation, President Trump could afterwards pardon them as well.

Politics

Donald Trump

Sheriff Joe Arpaio

Previous Post

August 22, 2017

Trump Divides America to Prepare for Mueller

Next Post

August 26, 2017 Spieth and Johnson Leading at The Northern Trust

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Angels Billy Graham Blog Description Book Reviews Christian Living Christianity Christology Church History Current Events Deity of Christ? Disarmament Eschatology Evangelicalism Ezekiel 38-39 Film Reviews God Golf Gospel Harmonization Health History Holy Spirit Incarnation? Interview Islam Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Jesus Last Empire Literary Announcements Major Championship Winners Masters Monotheism My Books New Testament Old Testament Politics Primitive Weapons Ryder Cup Science Society of Biblical Literature The Bible The Restitution of Jesus Christ Trinitarianism Trinity? Uncategorized Unconditional Love? War on Terrorism

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was stoned to death, becoming the first Christian martyr?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Paul Stephen Peter James

Books by This Author Books by Kermit Zarley Blog

See All Titles »