Trump pardons Joe Arpaio

[Rogue 9]

NPR

President Trump Pardons Former Sheriff Joe Arpaio

August 25, 20178:14 PM ET
Amita Kelly

President Trump has pardoned controversial former Sheriff Joe Arpaio for a misdemeanor criminal contempt conviction.

A statement issued by the White House Friday night said, "Today, President Donald J. Trump granted a Presidential pardon to Joe Arpaio, former Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona."

Known as "America's Toughest Sheriff," Arpaio gained a reputation for his harsh — his critics would say cruel — treatment of immigrants in the country illegally.

Arpaio was convicted of criminal contempt earlier this summer for defying a judge's order that his deputies stop detaining immigrants because they lacked legal status. His deputies carried on the practice for 18 months.

Trump hinted at the pardon last week and again at a Phoenix rally Tuesday night.

Last week, he told Fox News he was "seriously considering" a pardon and that Arpaio is a "a great American patriot" who has done "a lot in the fight against illegal immigration." Tuesday night, he asked the crowd of supporters: "Do the people in this room like Sheriff Joe?"

"You know what, I'll make a prediction: I think he's going to be just fine," he said. "OK? But I won't do it tonight, because I don't want to cause any controversy."

The statement issued by the White House said:

"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."

In an interview with NPR's Wade Goodwyn last Thursday, Arpaio had equally effusive praise for Trump, predicting that he will end up regarded as the greatest president in American history. He also said he thought that, like him, Trump had been unfairly smeared as a racist. "We need him and I feel sad how they're trying to destroy him. It makes me sick," he said. "I'll tell you one thing, he's got guts and courage and that's what this country needs."

Arpaio said he didn't ask for a pardon and, as of late last week, had not spoken directly to Trump about one. The misdemeanor conviction carries a possible sentence of up to six months.

Among his most controversial measures, the sheriff instructed his deputies to detain Hispanic residents and inquire about their legal status. He then disregarded a federal judge's ruling that he didn't have the legal authority to do so.

In the 1990s, at the start of his tenure, Arpaio opened Tent City jail, which housed inmates outdoors in the blistering Arizona sun. For years, activists criticized it as inhumane. But the newly elected sheriff, Sheriff Paul Penzone, said it was voluntary and inmates preferred it. Counter to Arpaio's claims, Penzone said, there was no evidence that the tough reputation of the jail made people less likely to commit crimes. The city began tearing it down earlier this year.

The rule of law is dead. Personal loyalty to the President will get him to casually short circuit the only enforcement mechanism the courts have.

[Lys]

On the face of it this seems like a waste of executive power. Arpaio was almost certainly going to get a six month deferred sentence, which would mean he wouldn't serve as single day in jail. Trump basically pardoned the former Sheriff over a slap on the wrist. Either Trump is just doing this because he likes Joe and doesn't want him to suffer even the mildest of consequences, or he's positioning himself to secure loyalty by promising pardons for any who get caught up in an investigation. Evidence for the former is that he actually asked Jeff Sessions if there was any way to get the contempt of court charges dropped. Evidence for the latter is that he has been very keen on finding out how far his pardon powers go (pretty far, it turns out). Since these are not mutually exclusive, odds are pretty good it's both. It's quite concerning, but ultimately the check on the President's power is Congress' ability to impeach him. If this gets out of hand, we'll see if the Republicans have the balls.

Also on the note of the tent city. It's weird reading an article on it and seeing the new Sheriff going, "Yeah we're tearing it down because it's expensive and the prisoners actually like it there. It's not tough on crime at all." Meanwhile the old Sheriff is like, "No it was totally harsh and the prisoners hated it there!" Jesus Fucking Christ, it's a jail! There's innocent people there being held for trial, and you two assholes are trying to prove who's the biggest sadist!

But yeah, they did a review and they found that on the whole the Tent City Jail wasn't in and of itself a human rights violation. Being there was voluntary and many inmates preferred it to being cooped up in a tiny cell most of the day. It makes sense if you think about it. It's ironic that Mr. Tough on Crime actually wound up accidentally improving jail conditions. That does not change however that the entire Maricopa County Jail system is up to its eyeballs in abuse and mistreatment of prisoners, many of whom are innocent people who can't afford bail. It'd be nice if the new Sheriff did something about it, but i'm not holding my breath.

[Cynical Cat]

This is bad, but its not as bad as Bush senior pardoning a bunch of people for the Iran-Contra.

[Norseman]

I would like to repeat my belief that we have accidentally fallen into a techno-thriller universe written by a mainland Chinese author. It is the only thing that makes sense anymore.

[Lys]

This is bad, but its not as bad as Bush senior pardoning a bunch of people for the Iran-Contra.

Generally i rate abuse of your own citizens as much worse than abuse of foreign citizens, since government officials have a sworn duty to the former. That said, Arpaio was pardoned over a midsmeanor for which he wasn't likely to serve any sentence, while the Iran-Contra Affair guys had been indicted on felony charges. So in terms of direct consequences, this was entirely symbolic, and the Iran-Contra pardons were a bigger deal.

In terms of actual harm, the fact that the Obama administration failed to commute the sentences of tens of thousands of people suffering because of bullshit drug laws was a graver injustice. His DOJ actually mooted just coming up with a list of criteria that would result in anyone who met them having their sentence commuted, but the AG's office shot it down.

[Cynical Cat]

Iran-Contra wasn't just felony charges, it was killing an investigation that had already ensnared the former Secretary of Defence could have caught Bush himself it hadn't ended. It's a much sketchy use of the power of the pardon.

[Lys]

It occurs to me that making it so you can only pardon people who have already been convicted would be an acceptable limit to the Presidential Pardon. This means Arpaio's pardon would still be legal, distasteful though it is, but it would prevent killing investigations via pardons. Only once the facts are in can the President actually choose to exempt someone from the consequences.

[Rogue 9]

This topic's line of discussion aged well.