Saturday, February 14, 2009

House Judiciary Committee request to the DOJ: Investigate Joe Arpaio! Let's support Judiciary!

Our dear friend Candela A., sent us an email RE a February 12, 2009 letter from The House of Representatives' Committee on the Judiciary, to the Honorable Eric H. Holder Jr., Attorney General of the United States, US Department of Justice and to the Honorable Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security, Department of Homeland Security, concerning allegations of misconduct on the part of Maricopa County's Sheriff Joe Arpaio that the Committee believes merit federal investigation and action.
The official letter of this request, is signed by the Honorable John Conyers Jr., Chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, by The Honorable Zoe Lofgren, Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law, by Jerrod Nadler, Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and by Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security.
We are asking you to take a minute to send a note of thanks to the tireless defender of Civil Rights, Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law, the Most Honorable Representative John Conyers Jr. - and if you want to go further, here you can contact Zoe Lofgren, Jerrod Nadler and Robert C. "Bobby" Scott
In addition, I take the liberty to remind you that there is an online petition to the Attorney General of the United States, DOJ, the Honorable Eric H. Holder Jr., we are also asking you to add your name to the list of petitioners.
"We, the undersigned, respectfully request that you direct your office to investigate Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona, for gross civil rights violations in the name of immigration enforcement."
"Mr. Attorney General, elected officials are subject to our nation's laws. Sheriffs should be held accountable for fighting crime, not rewarded for spreading fear. We request an immediate Department of Justice investigation into Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his appalling tactics."

ACORN also has an online petition to Call on Congress to Investigate Arizona Civil Rights Abuses

The Immigration Policy Center just released a fact sheet that shows the high cost of the Sheriff's antics.

America's Voice has a fact sheet with highlights of the Sheriff's record.

Thank you all for taking action on this vital matter, in our opinion, the actions of Maricopa County's Sheriff, Joe Arpaio, go way beyond what is permitted by the Rule of Law, the Constitution of the United States, International Human Rights and Human Dignity.
Please take action today.
Thank you very much for your attention, consideration and action on this matter.
Aurora Grajeda
---Sat 14-feb-09, David Rubi <davidrubi@yahoo.com> wrote:
From: David Rubi <davidrubi@yahoo.com>
Subject: House Judiciary Committee: Investigate Joe Arpaio! Let's support Judiciary!
To: "Paul N Rubi" <paulrubi@usa.com>
Date: saturday, February14 , 2009, 3:51 am

Estimados amigos:

Thanks to Linda Brown for sending this notice, but the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives of the 111th Congress has asked that the U.S. Department of Justice and the Secretary of Homeland Security (Janet Napolitano), conduct an investigation "concerning allegations of misconduct on the part of Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio". You can read the letter from Rep. John Conyers Jr., Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary (and others), dated February 12, 2009 here:

http://judiciary.house.gov/news/pdfs/Committee090212.pdf

Hurray! Finally! This is an example of the Change President Obama is bringing! Now if they will just do it! I think, though, we should thank Mr. Conyers and the Judiciary committee for this bold step! You can send him a message via his website at:

http://conyers.house.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.OnlineContactForm

Please send Mr. Conyers a message of thanks! It's the courteous thing to do! Your message does not have to be long. Mine was, and here's what I wrote to him:

re: call for Justice Department to investigate Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Dear Representative Conyers:

Thank you! And my thanks to the House Judiciary Committee for its decision to request that the U.S. Department of Justice and the Secretary for Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, conduct an investigation of the abuses of human rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution.

As a native Arizonan, I am well aware of how right-wingers in Arizona have been making every attempt to create a series of new Jim Crow laws aimed at intimidating persons of color, particularly Hispanic citizens and legal residents, and using the current immigration policies to ethnically cleanse Arizona. There is a very strong, racist core here in Arizona and they have no qualms about using whatever means possible to intimidate persons of color. This has caused an exodus of not only unauthorized aliens, but also legal residents and citizens, who do not want to put up with the increases in white hostility towards people of color.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio's activities are at the core of this: as you are aware, he and his deputies have been using an agreement between his office and Homeland Security as the basis to stop people of color--particularly if they are dark-skinned Hispanics--for minor or even bogus traffic violations then using this as an excuse to find undocumented aliens. But to find those undocumented aliens, he has chosen to harass, intimidate and bully all Hispanics. For instance, my wife, who is a permanent resident, is very frightened of driving to some parts of Phoenix now.

My ancestry as a citizen of the United States goes back to 1850, when by virtue of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, my ancestors, who had settled in New Mexico during Spanish colonial times, where made citizens of the United States. I have one ancestor who enlisted in New Mexico to fight on the Union side, my grandfather served in World War I, my uncle Charles in WWII, my father was enlisted in the military during the Korean War period. His other brother was a career NCO in the U.S. Army. I do not appreciate how, because of my Hispanic ancestry, some people continue the cancerous attitude of racism and try to impose it by law or legal authority on the rest of us.

I certainly resist anyone who violates anyone's human rights and constitutional rights. And I am glad to see, and most appreciative, that you and other members of the House Judicial Committee are doing something to hold this reincarnation of Bull Connor accountable. Though I have my doubts about Janet Napolitano's ability to perform a completely neutral investigation--after all, many of her policy decisions while governor of Arizona aided the anti-immigrant, anti-Hispanic movement in Arizona--I am glad you have asked the Department of Justice to perform its own investigation.

Thank you, and thank you to the members of the committee!

David C. Rubí, Ph.D.

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2 comments:

Elric66 said...

Funny you mention ACORN since they are under investigation for voter fraud in numerous states. Leftists are so predictable :-)

Unknown said...

What ACORN did was submit a small percentage of invalid voter registrations that were subsequently invalidated.

ACORN has become another 'boogey' man that the right wing is using and and the sheeple keep regurgitating the rightwingnut vomit that the right wing purveyors of lies and misinformation keep trowing up.

Voter fraud?

SPECIAL COVERAGE: The GOP's ACORN 'Voter Fraud' Lie

Justice Department Targets ACORN But Ignores GOP Voter Suppression

Fox News has Acorn on the brain

ACORN Response to Senator McCain’s Smear Ad