Posted by
Steve on Saturday, November 21, 2009 9:46:02 AM
Just when you think that the Obama administration cannot go any lower, they find a way to go lower. On the way to work today, Mike Siegel from KFYI reported that Janet Napolitano, Head of Homeland Security, is looking for a way to indict Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, AZ. She wants to indict him for enforcing the laws of the State of Arizona on illegal immigration.
I have heard of indicting people for not enforcing the law. I have heard of indicting people for breaking the law. But, I have never heard of indicting people for enforcing the law. If Sheriff Joe Arpaio was making up laws and arresting illegal aliens, then he would be breaking the law and worthy of indicting. But, Sheriff Joe is obeying the law and requiring that those that enter the country obey the law as well. Janet Napolitano does not like that. She did not like that when she was Governor of Arizona and she likes it even less today.
Janet Napolitano is trying her best to try and stop the ICE agents from enforcing the laws on illegal immigration. She sent a large number of the agents from the southern border where the problem is to the northern border where there is not a problem. Usually when you move large numbers of people around, you do it so they can address a need that is not being met. Janet Napolitano had a need on the southern border for more agents. On the northern border she had more than enough agents to handle the situation. So, instead of transferring some from the north to the south, she does the opposite. As a result, the capability of the agents in the south was reduced, thus enabling more illegal aliens to enter this country.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio has seen that the ICE agents are overworked. He saw that the number of illegal aliens in Maricopa County was growing. He vowed to take action to try and stop this trend. Since he only has authority within the confines of Maricopa County, Arizona, he took the actions that he felt were necessary to stop the invasion. Under President Bush, he was given power to enforce federal laws against coming into this country illegally. After Janet Napolitano took over as Homeland Security Secretary, she took that authority away. She felt that taking this federal power away would stop Sheriff Joe from enforcing the law. Since she withdrew the authority, Sheriff Joe has held a couple of sweeps that pick up illegal aliens and other lawbreakers. The latest sweeps have resulted in well in excess of 100 illegal aliens being arrested.
Janet Napolitano may well have the authority to want to indict Sheriff Joe about the illegal aliens being arrested. But, having the authority to do something and actually doing it are two quite different scenarios. There is no way that Janet Napolitano could get a conviction of Sheriff Joe. If this ever went to trial, Sheriff Joe would be acquitted. Sheriff Joe is the most popular politician in the State of Arizona. No jury in this state would ever vote to convict him of the crime of enforcing the law. Other than partisan Democrats, she could not find an attorney to handle the case. What Sheriff Joe wants more than anything is the opportunity to get some publicity. This case would give him a soap box to pound Janet Napolitano and Homeland Security into dust. As other Democrat politicians in this state have learned, you do not challenge Joe Arpaio to a public fight in the news media. Sheriff Joe wins those fights every time. Janet Napolitano should be a savvy enough politician to know that from the other Democrat politicians that lost those public fights.
My guess is that this is just a ploy to try and get Sheriff Joe to back off from enforcing the law. I think that he now knows that he has the attention of the feds and will pursue this tactic some more. I cannot believe that Janet Napolitano is stupid enough to try and take on Sheriff Joe when he is obviously in the right. If he were even the least bit operating in the gray areas of the law, she might have a chance. But, Sheriff Joe has been very careful about how these latest episodes are handled. As a result, Janet Napolitano is skating on thin ice and Sheriff Joe knows it. This might be fun to watch, but it definitely is something that should make every law abiding American to wonder about the Obama administration.