Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Side of the HWC Story

Sheriff Joe Arpaio

By Ruben Hernandez

Photos by Neil Mei

ArizonaLatinos.com published an article on the recent controversy created when the Hispanic Women’s Corporation declined to accept a booth application from the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. HWC President/CEO Linda Mazon Gutierrez based the decision upon business and social justice reasons.

As a credible journalistic organization, ArizonaLatinos.com strives to present both sides of an issue. Sheriff Joe Arpaio consented to an interview. Here is the interview transcribed in its entirety.

The Interview

AZL: Do you believe animosity exists between you and the Latino community?

Sheriff Arpaio: Well, only with a certain group, not all of the community. In fact I received an award by the same people who are against me now. Years ago when I arrested a military reservist who pointed a gun at eight people on a highway because they looked like they were from Mexico and here illegally. You can’t do that. You have to have probable cause. I took a lot of heat from that.  

Now things have turned because I took an oath of office to enforce all the laws. I started enforcing the immigration laws here the last six years, and that has caused me some problems.

AZL: What was your reaction to the Hispanic Women’s Corporation president declining to accept the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office booth application?

Sheriff Arpaio: My new employee James Estrada, who we have hired to reach out to this community, informed me. I was really concerned when he told me they wanted to give back the $800 we paid to them to set up a booth for our employees to try to empower the women and to recruit more Hispanics, even though we have about 26 percent of our organization is Hispanic. I was discouraged, I wasn’t happy. It was sad. Here we are trying to reach out; we are especially reaching out the Hispanic community to explain as to why we enforce certain laws. I’m not happy. But that’s their decision.

AZL: Let’s shift the conversation toward the future. Linda Mazon Gutierrez, the HWC president/CEO, stated her organization leaves the door open for future positive dialogue with the MCSO based upon your actions and rhetoric reflecting goodwill toward the Latino community.

There are other Latinos organizations who may feel the same way. Based on those assumptions, do you and the MCSO have a strategic outreach plan to erase the animosity between Latinos and the MCSO?

 Sheriff Arpaio: Yes. We have pamphlets. I recently talked to two religious groups. Throughout the years I’ve had people come from across the country; young students who come to meet with me. Every time I get a chance to talk, I think it’s very positive. They leave on a positive note once I have a chance to explain the situation. But the problem is trying to get to these small groups because all they do is scream, especially on the streets, with all the demonstrations. When I used to go around the country, I always had demonstrators no matter where I was. I’d go right in the midst of them; however there was no way I could get a word out. You could see the bitterness, the anger. So I’ve been trying to reach out many, many years. And yet you have a certain group that no matter what I say, they will not believe me; or they just figure when I’m talking to them I’m not sincere in what I say.

AZL: Are there any community activities that you would like to do with Latino organizations such as other law enforcement organizations do, whether it’s working with kids or helping to gather clothes for the poor.

Sheriff Arpaio: We are the leader in everything you’re saying. The problem is the media will not talk about our good stuff. We have a youth assistance foundation. We always collect toys every year; we bring the kids to the tents to sleep overnight to educate them. We have so many great programs in the jails, the drug programs. We have over 500 volunteers who come into the jails to talk to our inmates; going into schools, educating the kids. We have all these programs. We’ve been doing it for years. I’ve been doing all for 20 years. But you won’t know about it because the media will not cover it, unfortunately. But that’s okay. The families of these kids know; the kids know. I just gave $20,000 to Rev. Tillman to send kids to Washington. Nobody else would give it, but I came up with it. But you see, nobody will talk about that.

So we have been doing this for years. But unfortunately, with this sheriff who’s controversial, some media have their agenda. Especially a big newspaper here with their agenda is to take me down. They’ve been doing it since I got elected. But that’s okay. They have their agenda, I have mine. But anytime the media wants to talk to me, I’m always available.

AZL: The dialogue between the Latino community and the Sheriff’s Office, particularly in press releases that are sent out by the Sheriff’s Office, sometimes can be very negative. Like the recent press release sent out about the HWC used phrases like “classless move,” and “La Raza” and those kinds of statements. How can the rhetoric be more positive.

Sheriff Arpaio: Well, maybe they ought to. The ball’s in their court. Instead of all these demonstrations up and down streets, with these little kids carrying signs that call me Hitler and other names, maybe they ought to come up and visit me. Rev. Sharpton led 10,000 people against me. And I said, come on up and see me. He came. I believe we had a nice talk privately. So why don’t they come up to my office, all these leaders that don’t like the sheriff. Are they afraid that I may be telling the real story, the truth. They don’t want to hear it. No matter what I say, they don’t want to hear. They have their agenda, and that’s the way it’s going to be. The only way it will change is if they can get rid of me, which they tried in the last election and a recent recall. I just got elected to my sixth term. So there are a lot of people in the country who like the sheriff. And I am running again in 2016. So if they think I’m going away, that’s not going to happen. I have always put the hand out, but they don’t want to hear what I have to say.

Editor’s Note from Ruben Hernandez: Our objective is to provide our readers information on which to base their opinions and actions on important issues in our Latino community.

Ruben Hernandez interviewing Sheriff Joe Arpaio.