The buck stops...where?

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has put a hold on Arpaio's money allotted for illegal immigration enforcement. This signals a large political shift of support in this distinctly party line divided state.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles/2009/04/01/20090401immigmoney.html

This isn't the first time that the County Board of Supervisors has placed themselves in the news. In fact the Board was the very body that was holding hearings on the jail segregation policies.

While it is true that the Board of Supervisors may be sincerely concerned, politics in this state is a different beast. Very few in public office are humble in regards to the press. Political "pissing contests," are quite frequent. I can't help but wonder if this is a real moral concern of the board (immigration policy and/or excess spending) or if the board is reaching for 15 more minutes of the public's attention.

The board would not be the only participants. This weekend I attended an animal adoption event in arguably the most affluent part of Maricopa County, Fountain Hills. While the wonderful non-profit who puts on these events works with the Sheriff on all of their adoption events across the county, Sheriff Arpaio chose only this event to attend. Microphone in hand he reminded the gathered "fellow animal lovers," of all the glorious accomplishments he has had as Sheriff... except for the most appropriate boasting. He mentioned nothing of his policy and dedication to helping the stray and abused animals of this county, something that one must commend him for no matter how they feel about any of his other policies. Why would he not mention all of his hard work for animals at an event by an organization that his support has helped immensely? Why would he only show up to the event in the wealthiest part of the county? Maybe I heard wrong and the speakers distorted the speech I heard from 50 feet away, but from my position Joe Arpaio's rhetoric sounded distinctly like a speech at a campaign fundraiser.

Phoenix is the kidnapping capital of the US

Even more shocking, Phoenix is only second in the world in kidnappings to Mexico City. True the number of kidnappings is most likely large because it is based on people and not instances, but the statistic is still quite alarming. People pay smugglers to sneak them across the Mexico border (people of all nationalities). These smugglers, Coyotes, often smuggle immigrants across the border, keep immigrants prisoners in drop houses, and then ransom their families for more money. Thus the kidnapping rate is so high in Phoenix.

The border itself has become a dangerous place. I posted warnings in 2008 from the government about crossing the border and now the violence has gotten worse. Over 1000 people have been brutally murdered in border towns, some severed heads have been found atop fence posts while one man was arrested in Mexico for disposing of countless victim's bodies in acid. Shootings happen in broad daylight and many people (especially when you are just a few hours from the border as we are) are terrified that the violence is going to spread even more.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/189246

The question, it seems, that Phoenicians seem MOST concerned with is : Is this violence going to effect my every day life? When the only dangers were towards those sneaking into the country illegally, many people turned a blind eye saying that the violence is part of making a choice to break the law. Now that innocent people are being mowed down with assult rifles in the streets of Mexican border towns many American's are starting to worry if the next spray of unconcerned bullets will be in their streets.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/27/2256881.htm
http://www.nogalesinternational.com/articles/2008/09/10/news/news3.txt
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-02-23-mexicoborder_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

Recently the federal government has become concerned as well. With soldiers all over the world, one wonders what the US has planned for troubles in its own back yard.

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/commentary/the-china-post/arthur-cyr/2009/03/06/198949/p2/Robert-Gates.htm

edited to add:
Here is an article from Al Jazeera posted 3/31 (although it is still 3/30 in Phoenix.) It presents a third party perspective on the violence.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/03/2009330192045168972.html

MCSO & Joe vs. The Feds

I apologise for not being up on my entries. A lot has happened that has kept me away from informative updates. I will post multiple topics separately in order to keep events free standing.

Sheriff Joe is under investigation by the county and the Feds for his new jail policy that is being deemed by many groups and agencies as possible segregation. Early in 2009 Sheriff Joe marched all illegal immigrant inmates to a separate holding facility in Tent City. He Marched the prisoners in public and justified his separation policy by stating that ICE would have an easier time handling the prisoners if they were all in one place.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/04/ap/national/main4775188.shtml

Other's, including the county Attorney and usual Arpiao ally Andrew Thomas, are not so sure his new policy is constitutional.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2009/02/10/20090210Montini0210.html

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/02/07/20090207countyhearing0207.html

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/02/26/20090226politics-insider0226.html

An issue by any other name is still related to... taxes

When all is said and done, the fuel behind nearly every political issue is money. Congress is the most opinionated and out spoken abacus the world has ever seen. Everything gets tallied and put into it's proper allocation: tax brackets, census generations, funding for programs, incentives and growth , even your own Social security number designates what part of the country you were numbered in.
This is the main reason that politicians pay attention to illegal immigration. Unknown people cannot be quantified and thus they cannot be taxed. Whether you are democrat or republican this is a thorn in your side. While at any point in time neither party is content with the tax system, both parties will agree that the system itself hinges on participation. Everyone puts their money in the pool ( the contribution amount is arguable) and those funds are the glue that holds our municipalities, counties, parishes, states, and country together as a sovereign unit. They educate, they take care of those in need, they build roads, they even serve as incentive to growth. Not paying into the American tax system and taking advantage of its benefits is an attempt at a free lunch.
There is still a strong puritan influence in the United States. There is an over whelming feeling that everyone should pull their fair share of the load. This is why we as a country get so angry at the idea of unaccountability, most recently on Wall Street. Using anything that is tax payer funded without being a contributor is against the foundation of American culture and the political system. For some the conundrum gets even more complicated when they want nothing more than to contribute and are unable.

Presidential election effect and hangover..

During the peak of the presidential election much local news was pushed to the back burner. Since then the Dow has continued to drop and the local news and responses to immigration have been muted a tad. However, there have been two major events that have lead to local out cry even while a nation in turmoil and fear grips the rest of the country. The Phoenix metro area has lost two lives to drunk driving by illegal immigrants.

The first death was of officer Shane Figueroa of the Phoenix police early in the morning on October 25th. The man that was found at fault for the accident first identified himself as Jose Rivas Gonzalez. The name he gave police was an alias used on forged identification. The 50 year old suspect's real name is Salvador Vivas-Diaz an illegal immigrant. Vivas- Diaz is facing charges of manslaughter, aggravated assault, obstruction of a criminal investigation, and forgery. Coverage on this case has not been as in depth as similar cases with the death of an officer have been in the past. This has upset many in the Phoenix area.
http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/MoAlonzoDunsmoor/37336

Besides the newspaper outlets, local talk radio has picked up on the story. Below is a link to Ankarlo mornings on 92.3 KTAR. The broadcast from October 27th, 2008 is the first public mention I heard in regards the immigration status of Vivas-Diaz and one of the more information filled discussions on this case.
http://ktar.net/blogs/dankarlo/2008/10/page/2/

Not even a month after the death of 25 year old Phoenix officer Shane Figueroa, 16 year old Kelly Tracy was killed by an illegal drunk driver on her way to a parade in Gilbert. The local high school band member was in the car with her brother when 32 year old Manuel Contreras- Galdean hit the two teens while under the influence of alcohol. Contreras- Galdean has 2 prior DUI offences.

Sheriff Joe vs. Mesa

The Sheriff has had a difficult time with the city of Mesa in recent months. The Mesa Police chief publicly declared that Joe (Arpiao- here you say Joe and everyone knows who you are speaking about) would not give him enough notice of his crime suppression sweeps. The Mesa Police chief wanted to make sure that he had adequate officers in the area of the sweeps to keep the public safe, and the inevitable protestors under control.

This morning MCSO showed up at the Mesa public library to enforce the Employer's Sanction Law. Joe received a tip that the City of Mesa's contracted cleaning service, Management Cleaning Controls, was knowingly employing illegal immigrants. This morning 16 people, all illegal immigrants were arrested. 3 of these people were at the Mesa public library, the remaining 13 were arrested at their homes. Additionally, MCSO is charging 10 of these people with identity fraud. According to CBS news this evening there are 200 additional employees of this company under investigation for possible identity fraud. MCSO served a police lieutenant with the Mesa Police as well. his exact charges in regards to this sweep are unknown, although there is sense that he knew these employees were illegal.

Joe is not the only one who has amped up his campaigns in the last couple of days. This week there have been protests outside the meetings of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. A group newly formed in January who call themselves the Maricopa Citizens for Safety and Accountability have drawn hundreds of members and supporters to County Board of supervisor's meetings for the past few months. The meetings attended include those in regards to the MCSO contract as acting law enforcement in the city of Guadalupe.

MCSA was formed by a group from religious and community organizations who focus on the purse strings to effect the policies of Joe Arpiao and MCSO.
"The Board of Supervisors is ultimately where the money comes through for the Sheriff's department. We wanted to have more (of) a public accounting. Other people took the sheriff on a frontal assault on issues and weren't effective." stated Parraz, the group's leader. "Change doesn't happen overnight. We're not going to allow them to continue to bully us, at the same time we're never going to resort to violence, do personal attacks, undermine them as people. It's consistent, it's reaching out, it's involving ordinary people in the process, it's being creative. It's sometimes breaking the rules and at other times cooperating." - -www.azcentral.com -"Arpiao Critics keep heat on supervisors,"- 10-15-2008.

Root of the Issue

Maybe it is because it is an election year, but it seems to me that the root of most political constipation on any issue is hate. It is much easier for people to hate then it is to address a problem or to admit that things are a little bit more complicated then just black and white. It is much easier to label a person who disagrees with you as despised then it is to admit to yourself that your feelings are one of many, and your feelings alone are not sole justification for any political stance.

Instead of stepping back and taking a deep look at an issue, people in general look at their emotion. They do not see the issue, or problem, or situation. Most people can only see how they feel. YOUR having feelings does not solve or better any sort of predicament. Do we need to stop hiring lawyers as politicians and instead start looking for well spoken engineers?

The root of the immigration dilemma is that no one wants to sit down, pick it apart, diagnose the problems, and then solve them practically. Complaints do not create solutions, only background noise. Until we look at immigration reform as broken equipment we will never be able to piece it together into a functioning machine.

The first step towards any large assembly and repair is to lay out all of your parts in plain sight. Anyone who has ever assembled anything knows spare parts = missed and lessened performance.

It is easy to misinterpret the importance of a part when it is separated from the final project. It is hard to look at any single aspect and recognize how it leads to overall function without getting a clear look at the final product. The directions to law in this country are simple. They do not hide themselves within the bar exam, nor do they take a PHD to read. The instructions we need to interpret immigration reform lay here : http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html

The Constitution of the United States of America.