Arpaio visits campus to discuss immigration issues
Ryan McCullough
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio spoke to nearly 300 people at MCC in the Navajo Room about illegal immigration.Kevin Fosburgh, College Republicans president, introduced Arpaio and moderated the event.
“We expect everyone to be responsible and respectful of our special guest,” Fosburgh said.
As Arpaio climbed the stairs to the lectern, a group of students left in unison. Jesus Espinoza, a member of the Movimento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan club, organized the walk out.
“He has the right to come to our school and speak his point of views and we have the same right,” Espinoza said.
On March 22, Espinoza began planning his protest. He had heard Arpaio speak before and worried that the moderator would be biased when choosing which questions would be asked during the session.
“We tried to protest in a peaceful and quiet way,” Espinoza said.
Arpaio began by talking about his deputies who have gone through a six-week training course with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
The sheriff said he would enforce employer sanction laws by following tips about those who hire illegal immigrants.
Arpaio expressed a need for immigration reform but said until then, he will enforce the laws how they are written.
He also told a story of nine illegal immigrants that had been killed in the West Valley.
“There was a big uproar. I bet if it was nine people tied up, shot in the head, executed from Scottsdale there would be an uproar every day. Why is it that nine from Mexico are executed and nobody makes a big deal of it?” Arpaio said.
Nine federal investigators came to inspect the sheriff on accounts of racial profiling by deputies, 60 days after President Obama’s inauguration, according to Arpaio.
“Why go after this little old sheriff from Maricopa County?” Arpaio asked. “My deputies do not racial profile.”
Arpaio ended his speech by recounting his achievements from the week before.
In 30 hours, 111 arrests were made; 75 of which were illegal immigrants, and 57 others were involved in human smuggling, according to Arpaio.
During the Q&A session, questions could be written on slips of paper and members of the college republicans would gather them for Fosburgh to read.
Some of the questions asked of Arpaio were how his budget had been affected with recent spending cuts, what his advice was for someone planning to run for public office and what his top priority would be if he ran for governor of Arizona.
As the session went on, some audience members began asking questions to Arpaio directly. Mesa Police Department officers were present to make sure the session followed the laid out rules in Fosburgh’s introduction.
“I am very happy with the way it went down,” said Fosburgh while Arpaio shook hands and posed for pictures at the end of the event.
Security was a concern at the event. ASMCC approved $545 for extra security. MCC personel contributed an extra $300. The additional money was used to hire five additional police officers.
