Sheriff Joe Arpaio: This Is Exactly Why Donald Trump Is Fighting Against the 'Fake News Media'

By Joe Arpaio November 21, 2018 at 10:50am

As you’ve no doubt heard by now, President Donald Trump released an ad leading up to the 2018 midterms vilifying Luis Bracamontes, the illegal alien convicted of killing two sheriff’s deputies in California in 2014.

Bracamontes is a monster and an example of the worst type of person the Democrats seem so willing to allow into this country. That goes without saying.

A jury recommended the death penalty for a man who repeatedly entered the United States illegally before killing two Northern California deputies.

As the jury read its verdict, Luis Bracamontes grinned: https://t.co/jPlRe0XGJy pic.twitter.com/vJzdFCsDwa

— 48 Hours (@48hours) March 28, 2018

But a funny thing happened after Trump released the ad.

Democrats and their media allies, perhaps realizing how damning the ad was, reacted in the only way they seem to know how in 2018.

They lied.

They lied to protect themselves after realizing Trump had them cornered. They lied because that’s all they have when it comes to immigration policies.

And they lied to attack me.

In a misguided attempt to change the narrative surrounding Trump’s ad, the media saw fit to spread blatant lies about my role in the release of Bracamontes.

The media widely reported that Bracamontes was released by my office when I was sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, which is as truthful as a flat Earth.

I’ve released not one, but two press releases vehemently refuting that lie. One came out in 2014 when the media first began misconstruing the facts. The other came out following Trump’s ad.

The fact of the matter is this smear campaign is an obvious attempt to deny responsibility for failed immigration policies pushed by the left.

What I did, contrary to the media’s narrative, was turn Bracamontes over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement following his time in my jail, not release him. The only possible mistake I could’ve made was entrusting Bracamontes to an organization hampered and neutered by the Obama administration.

I never let an illegal alien go on the street, believe me, rather I turned over 10,000 illegal aliens to ICE from the jail. Unfortunately, 39 percent came back to the same jails, which makes me believe many of the criminals were not sent back to their country of origin by ICE.

In my 2014 press release, which came out days after Bracamontes killed two California sheriff’s deputies during President Barack Obama’s second term, I called for a congressional hearing to “find out why illegal aliens arrested by my deputies and other police officers for serious crimes are handed over to ICE, only to be back in my jail, arrested again on more charges.”

“Either ICE is letting these individuals go out the back door, free to commit more crimes, or is the border so open that even though they’re being deported, they turn around and immediately return?” I said at the time.

This is exactly why Trump’s war against fake news media is so important. Considering how quickly information is disseminated through social media and the internet, it doesn’t take long for patently false information to gain traction.

Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire. Trump and I pull no punches with the media because we have no other choice. The left has made it perfectly clear that truthfulness and facts mean nothing.

In fact, I just recently sued a large newspaper for defamation, and other suits may be coming soon.

The next time the media bashes Trump for fighting with them, they should look in the mirror.

I’m not going to hold my breath.

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Tags:

Illegal immigration, Joe Arpaio, Politics

Joe Arpaio

Special Contributor to The Western Journal

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Known as “America’s Toughest Sheriff,” Joe Arpaio had a long and decorated career in law enforcement before being elected sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, in 1992. He is now a Special Contributor to The Western Journal.

@RealSheriffJoe

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Known as “America’s Toughest Sheriff,” Joe Arpaio had a long and decorated career in law enforcement before being elected to Sheriff of Maricopa County in 1992.

After serving in the U.S. Army from 1950 to 1953, and as a Washington, D.C., and Las Vegas, NV, police officer, Arpaio went on to build a law enforcement career as a federal narcotics agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). For almost a decade, Arpaio was stationed in foreign countries where he headed the DEA combatting the drug trade in which, even by today’s standards, are highly volatile and dangerous in Turkey, the Middle East, Mexico and Central and South America. He was also a diplomatic attaché. In his last years with the DEA, Arpaio also gained invaluable expertise on border issues and enforcement as the head of the DEA in the border states of Arizona and Texas. He concluded his remarkable federal career as head of the DEA for Arizona.

In 1992, Arpaio successfully campaigned to become the Sheriff of Maricopa County, becoming the head of the nation’s third largest Sheriff’s Office which employs over 3,400 people. He served an unprecedented six 4-year terms. During his tenure as Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arpaio consistently earned high public approval ratings.

In August, 1993, he started the nation’s largest Tent City for convicted inmates. Two thousand convicted men and women serve their sentences in a canvas incarceration compound. It was here that Arpaio launched his get-tough policies for inmates. He banned smoking, coffee, movies, pornographic magazines, and unrestricted TV in all jails. It is a remarkable success story that has attracted the attention of government officials, presidential candidates, and media worldwide.

Of equal success and notoriety were his chain gangs, which contributed thousands of dollars of free labor to the community by picking up litter, painting over graffiti and burying the indigent in the county cemetery.

Another program Arpaio was very well known for is the pink underwear he made all inmates wear. Years ago, when the Sheriff learned that inmates were stealing jailhouse white boxers, Arpaio had all inmate underwear dyed pink for better inventory control.

As chief law enforcement officer for the county, Arpaio continued to reduce crime with hard-hitting enforcement methods. He began an all-volunteer posse of 3,000 members, making it the nation’s largest volunteer posse. Posse men and women help in search and rescue and other traditional police work as well as in special operations like rounding up deadbeat parents, fighting prostitution, patrolling malls during holidays, and investigating animal cruelty complaints. The posse’s contributions are invaluable and essentially free to taxpayers.

In addition to these tough measures, the Sheriff launched rehabilitative programs like “Hard Knocks High,” the only accredited high school under a Sheriff in an American jail, and ALPHA, an anti-substance-abuse program that has greatly reduced recidivism.

He is now a Special Contributor to The Western Journal.

On a personal note, Sheriff Arpaio and his wife Ava have been married for over 56 years and have two children, both residing in the Phoenix area. The Arpaios have four grandchildren.

Birthplace

Massachusetts

Nationality

American

Topics of Expertise

Drug Enforcement, Law Enforcement, Politics