An Arizona sheriff best known for his human rights abuses, attacks on immigrants and birther conspiracy theories is heading to Iowa today to endorse Donald Trump, according to a report in the New York Times.
Trump, who has recently won support from Sarah Palin and Jerry Falwell Jr., has actively courted Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who defended the GOP presidential candidate after he claimed that most immigrants are criminals.
As we’ve reported, Arpaio “has a horrific record on issues like immigration, racial profiling, detainment and upholding basic human rights. Most recently, he tapped a child sex offender to work as an armed guard for schools and confessed to having ‘violated several federal court orders resulting from a long-running racial-profiling suit.’ The sheriff, who has been cited by the Justice Department for violating the First Amendment rights of his critics, recently alleged that criticism of Trump’s comments on immigration undermines his ‘freedom of speech.'”
Last March, Arpaio admitted to violating a federal court order “by continuing to allow sheriff’s deputies to make traffic stops based on suspicions about individuals’ immigration status.” A party held in Arpaio’s honor included racist jokes about the sheriff pulling over drivers just for being Hispanic.
Along with sharing anti-immigrant policies and a disdain for civil liberties, Trump and Arpaio areboth outspoken birthers. Arpaio even leads his own “cold-case posse,” which has promised “universe-shattering” evidence proving that President Obama’s birth certificate is fraudulent.
Perhaps such evidence will be unveiled in Trump’s future birther book.
