In my David Mapstone Mysteries series, the Maricopa County Sheriff is a Mexican-American tough guy — bull-headed, manipulative, egotistical, fascinating. Nobody ever accused him of violating prisoners’ rights, however, and he brings an ambivalent realist’s view to illegal immigration. In real life, we get Joe Arpaio, who casts himself, thanks to a gullible media and public, as "America’s toughest sheriff."
Many real police officers have nothing but contempt for Arpaio — they call him the "badged ego" for his endless publicity stunts. They talk about how the media leave largely unexamined the troubled record of Arpaio’s department (an honorable exception is the weekly New Times and my friend, journalist John Dougherty). But nobody wants to listen to reality in Arizona, particularly when the Arpaio fantasy so appeals to the simplistic minds of the many Anglos who want the Salt River Valley to be Des Moines with hot weather.
The latest spectacle involves Arpaio sending deputies and "posse" members into the city of Phoenix to arrest illegal immigrants. Phoenix PD wasn’t happy about it, and Mayor Phil Gordon belatedly condemned it, albeit before a safely sympathetic Hispanic audience. An Arizona Republic poll — an unscientific, self-selecting Web thang — shows most support the sheriff.
Whatever faith-and-prejudice-based ether Arizona’s Web lurkers live in, the reality is far different. Arpaio plays to the mob while doing nothing to address this complex issue of, in Joe Wambaugh’s words, lines and shadows.
Among the chief fantasies of Anglo Arizona is that it can have an economy based on cheap labor that borders a semi-Third World country, destabilized by globalization, and not face any consequences. This is part of the Arizona propaganda that says "it’s hot, everything’s fine, you don’t have to shovel sunshine" and other drivel. This helps avoid addressing the dire challenges of what is now the West’s third most populous state (six times more populous than when I was born).
In this case, the consequence is that millions of illegal immigrants came through Phoenix, which is a major staging point in the people smuggling industry, and perhaps a million remained in the state. They were hardly there for the paltry public benefits or rotten, underfunded schools. They were there because the Anglo Arizona business community hired them. When I was a kid, the construction trades were heavily Anglo, and a person could support his family based on the wages. Now they are all Hispanic, and heavily illegal. What we might call the low-wage dividend to the Anglo businesses was a major driver in the huge expansion of the housing industry in the 1980s and 1990s. It was not responding to an inevitable wave of migration from the Rust Belt. Rather, it caused the huge white migration because of cheap housing, along with a host of subsidized and deferred costs that made Arizona appear inexpensive.
Rather than thank the illegals that made this possible, Arizona has vilified them. That’s something easy to do with people who live on the margins, without the legal rights of citizens or the privileges of the majority.
Let’s be clear: this historic wave of illegal immigration badly destabilized Arizona. It turned middle-class subdivisions into linear slums, added huge strains to the schools and health care system, and stirred the cultural tensions from a large minority appearing seemingly overnight in what has been a heavily Anglo city (Phoenix). Along with the equally destabilizing white migration from the Midwest, it swept away my old city of citrus blossoms and poetry. Many Mexican-Americans are profoundly ambivalent about the newcomers, even if they can’t say so publicly for fear of encouraging the anti-immigrant thugs.
But again, in an economy built on the cheap, built to attract newcomers to crapola subdivisions in the sun, the illegal immigrants were not only inevitable, they were indispensable. From tourism to restaurants to the all-important housing industry, Arizona’s economy runs on illegal labor.
A wiser, more graceful state might have taken a different course. While this vast human migration needed national solutions, from both Washington and Mexico City, the state could have sought innovative ways to become an effective melting pot. I know this term offends the politically correct, but by it I mean provided good schools, taught English (the language of the world economy) and created ladders up and encouragement into the mainstream of the economy and society. That didn’t happen. So now Arizona faces a large underclass, cut off, marginalized, exploited for its cheap labor, not going "home," and someday bound to blow. As with so much else there, this will end up costing far more than doing things right in the first place.
The most unfortunate offshoot of Anglo Arizona’s insatiable appetite for cheap illegal labor is the human smuggling business. This, along with the growing underclass that includes the young and crime-prone and an underground economy, has produced a vast culture of violence and lawlessness. This is closely connected with the smuggling of illegal drugs, too.
This is not what Sheriff Arpaio is after with his "sweeps." He goes after the day-laborers who congregate on street-corners and irritate the nearby businesses. These illegals are among the most wretched, ones unable even to get steady exploitative employment. But it plays well on local television, where the anchor-babes "report" it without context or skepticism, and the sun-narcoticized immigrants from Iowa shout "yaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" at the insensate boob tube.
The sheriff’s main function is to run the jail and serve papers for the court, but never mind. One thing is clear: in a state where tax-cuts are a religion, law enforcement struggles to keep up with the violence from smuggling, drugs, the underclass and all those under stress from a bottom-feeder culture and economy. The "sweeps" divert resources and attention while doing nothing to decapitate the leadership of the smugglers of people and drugs. They do nothing to address a crisis of gang violence. The sweeps, along with other punitive steps, further oppress the majority of illegals who work hard and keep their heads down.
(Do the people in the suburban megachurches that smugly ring Phoenix ever wonder what Jesus would say?)
Arpaio isn’t going after the businesses that hire the vast majority of illegals. Put some CEOs in jail, and you’d put a big dent in illegal immigration. But he doesn’t have the guts to go after those with power. A real tough guy, yeah. Tell me another one. How pathetically illustrative of what America has become.
The war against illegals, and not-too-subtly, against all Hispanics that aren’t upper middle class, casts a light on a gathering storm over the city of Phoenix. It has the largest Hispanic population and all the biggest, costliest urban and economic problems. It has the underclass and the linear slums. This as it slowly loses the economic benefits of the sprawl machine, which has moved farther out, and loses state revenue sharing. It faces a hostile Legislature. It has not built an economy or infrastructure that can support a city of 1.5 million people. The Arpaio drama illustrates this tension. He lives in Fountain Hills, which thanks God every day it doesn’t have to deal with "Mexicans." (What would Jesus say?)
Arizonans don’t have a monopoly on hypocrisy, but they are perhaps the Americans who live most in denial. That they can have a megalopolis in a hostile desert…raise the temperature 10 degrees in 50 years because of their building methods…keep cutting taxes while public needs rise…ignore global warming, the consequences of sprawl, poor schools, an uncompetitive economy, dangerously vulnerable infrastructure…commit the environmental rape of one of God’s singular creations, and for what? Prescott Valley and all its ilk?…yet "everything’s fine!" Denial flows most profoundly over the issue of illegal immigration.
But it’s not enough to blame the Midwest migrants who want to be left alone, the bottom-feeder businessmen and the thugs of white supremacy. I also blame the moderates. They trumpet the moderate state of Napolitano, but head for the tall grass when it’s time to hate the illegals. I blame the so-called business leaders. And I blame the Hispanic Americans who don’t vote and organize. Right now Arizona is run by a right-wing minority that is probably smaller than the voting population of Hispanic citizens.
I remember the big march in downtown Phoenix a couple of years ago. The ignorant haters were…afraid. Maybe even Sheriff Joe was afraid. Not of insurrection, but that "the Mexicans" might unionize, might strike, might vote. It didn’t happen.
Typical Black Man blaming everything on “the thugs of white supremacy”
And I blame the Hispanic Americans who don’t vote and organize. How can they vote they are illegal?
Hey, Rick: What “black man” in the article are you talking about? Surely not the author, who is white. I’m hispanic, American and never missed a vote in 56 years. Haven’t figured out yet we’re not all illegal? You don’t know who is or isn’t so stop the global overstatements. It makes you sound simple. Get out of the sun, sparky, the heat is getting to you.
If every county in America had a Joe Arpaio as sheriff, we wouldn’t have 20 – 38 million illegal aliens massed in our country today costing taxpayers over $100 billion a year.
Kick Chertoff, the bald headed stooge, out of the DHS directorship and install Joe. The fence would get built, employers employing illegal aliens would be prosecuted and illegal aliens would be deported. Problem solved.
No Amnesty In Arizona
Investor’s Business Daily
Tuesday February 19, 6:55 pm ET
Immigration Reform: The problem of illegal immigration seems to take care of itself if laws are obeyed and enforced. For the latest evidence, we turn to Sen. John McCain’s home state.
Arizona is seeing signs of a flight by Mexican immigrants out of the state and back across the border. Local reformers credit the state’s recent crackdown on illegal immigration. Indeed, sanctions against employers are playing a key role.
The new state law — which goes into effect March 1 — punishes employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants by suspending their business license for 10 days on the first violation and revoking it for a second offense.
At the same time, the county sheriff in Phoenix has been helping enforce federal immigration laws by rounding up people living there illegally.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has given arrest authority to many deputies. So in the course of a traffic stop, illegal aliens without driver’s licenses for the first time now stand a real chance of being deported.
In response to the crackdown, illegals are flooding the Mexican consulate in Phoenix to obtain papers to move back across the border and enroll their children in school.
The consulate is reporting an “unusual” 400% increase in parents applying for Mexican birth certificates for their anchor babies and other documents they need to return to Mexico.
They’re also requesting a paper known as a “menaje de casa,” which allows illegals living in the U.S. to cross into Mexico without paying a tax on their furniture and other household goods.
How charming that they follow their own immigration rules, but not ours. And how telling that the Mexican government makes it hard for its citizens to return, while making it easier for them to break into our country by handing out thousands of maps to border tunnels and water tanks in the Arizona desert.
Some immigrants’ rights groups are claiming U.S. citizens, not just illegals, are crossing into Mexico, because the Arizona economy is flagging, and construction and retail jobs are drying up. That makes little sense. Americans don’t flee to Mexico to find work.
Fact is, some 30,000 illegal immigrants plan to leave Arizona sometime before March 1, when the state’s tough new immigration laws kick in, according to a survey conducted earlier this month by Chicanos Por La Causa. And CPLC can hardly be accused of anti-immigrant bias — it’s a nonprofit immigrant-support group.
State lawmakers who pushed through the crackdown are already heralding its success. The desired effect was having illegals see that the red carpet would no longer be rolled out for them.
Arizona has borne the brunt of the Mexican invasion, and its citizens are fed up. According to a study last year, 12% of Arizona workers are in the U.S. illegally — the highest share in the country.
Illegal immigrants and their families are not only a burden on public services, but many of them join gangs and commit violent crimes while living here.
Amnesty advocates argue it’s not feasible to deport millions of illegals. They say it’s impossible to round up 12 million people and kick them out of the country.
But the out-migration in Arizona proves you don’t have to. Just making a strong show of law enforcement at the work site and on the street corners is enough to discourage illegals from staying.
Arizona is a model for other states being overrun by illegals. If they just send a clear message to immigrants living here illegally that they’re serious about enforcing the law, they’ll pack up and leave. And they’ll tell their friends and relatives waiting to break in on the other side of the border that it just ain’t worth it.
It costs a lot of money to hire coyotes and smugglers to get here. They’ll see in due order that they’ll be wasting their money and will stay home — or get in line with law-abiding immigrants who actually want to come to America and be American citizens.
https://biz.yahoo.com/ibd/080219/issues01.html?.v=1
“If every county in America had a Joe Arpaio as sheriff…” Whoa, zeezil, let’s stop right there. If they did, we’d all be broke. The guy has cost Maricopa County more in lawsuits from his illegal activities than the county sheriffs in the other 10 biggest cities combined. And throw away that pesky Constitution while you’re at it – he’d shred it in a nanosecond if given the chance. There’s a reason our state has a higher percentage of Mexican workers: the service economy. If you want to change linens, wash dishes, and mow lawns for less than minimum wage, a job awaits you too.
These illegal aliens not only hurt the American worker with loss of employment opportunities and wage devaluation but also the legal migrant. Getting a green card is time consuming and expensive but cheaper then a coyote. The H1B visa is unlimited only by need, example, an employer needs 1 million fruit pickers and cannot find anyone to do the work in the states. He applies for the workers and meets the criteria, BANG, 1 million workers, legal workers.
I have a green card, illegals are rewarded for committing a crime, I lose too.
Wow, Jon, you tickled the trolls with this one, eh?
For all of Arpaio’s polled popularity, I have yet to come face-to-face with a Joe-apologist. Maybe they’re just afraid to say it out loud.
“Mayor Phil Gordon belatedly condemned it, albeit before a safely sympathetic Hispanic audience.” That was my take, too, and grrrr… these pols… ack. Anyway, this feels like an Arpaio flameout moment – but then again I’ve felt that way before. A guy can dream, though.
I appalaud any person who is against illegal aliens.
No-one in this country asked to be invaded by these illegals, and they have cost the U.S.a total of $866 BILLION per year for ALL of the free Govt. programs they receive.
Now, there are some very good illegals, however, according to the many stats, they are in the minority.
It is these that work under our own Govt’s poverty level, that we want to go home. The poverty level affects those un-skilled workers who are the majority that are costing us tax-payers money because of our poverty level, and we, the tax-payer are required to make up the difference for low wages ,to bring them up out of this poverty level.
You can blame most of this problem on employers who pay the lower wages, while they make huge profits. How do we get the employers to pay them higher wages ..HA !
Let the stupid tax payers pay for it. This is definitely because of our Congress
( Demo’s) who continually refuse to make new or enforce old laws, simply because lobbyists have paid many Congress-persons ‘NOT’ to touch any illegals.
Many REPUBLICAN Bills to oust the illegals have been refused to come to the floor by our “sweat”-heart Nan Pelosi , and her co-hort in the senate H. Reid who must be paid tons by lobbyists.
The only thing we have to fight is the VOTE, and we must use it to oust those incumbent DEMO congress-persons who refuse to let the Bills against “born on the soil” ANCHOR-BABIES, and Urgently build the Fence which was approved 2 years ago, and has gone nowhere.
It is ugly, but again, the VOTE is all we have at this point. TERM-LIMITS would be a God sent if it were ever to happen…
jer myner, et alli:
“Illegal immigration” is a symptom, not the disease. It is insoluble in and of itself, and makes for one of those great “social issues” which can be leveraged by demagoguery for all political eternity.
There are aspects on how we have organized our society – specifically, the current incarnation of “capitalism” which has become a Western religion – that have inevitably led to the all-too-human response of geographic migration.
Anyone who fantasizes about solving this problem solely by bashing the human response will never be seen as being too deep a thinker by my lights.
…these illegals, and they have cost the U.S.a total of $866 BILLION per year for ALL of the free Govt. programs they receive.
Illegal immigrants pull down $72,000 a year each in government benefits? What color is the sky in your world?
I think it’s fascinating to see this very thoughtful, thought-provoking post, which brings together all these complex issues. Then to see some of the anti-immigrant responses. So many people are operating from a hysterical, emotional position there’s no reasoning with them. But I applaud you for trying, Jon
“zeezil” says “Kick Chertoff, the bald headed stooge, out of the DHS directorship and install Joe.”
Curiously, Jon Talton starts the column out with references to David Mapstone and mythical Maricopa County Sheriff Mike Peralta. In the second book Peralta became Sheriff when (the unnamed but obvious) Arpaio left for Washington to become the nation’s drug czar. Had Camelback Falls been written today, the DHS post might well have been how (in the better world that is fiction) we finally got rid of the self-aggrandizing Arpaio.