Separation of Church and State

Arizona's Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is apparently a huge supporter of the Bill of Right’s First Amendment, which is frequently referred to as the “separation of church and state.” He supports it so much that he (the state) is separating people from their churches.

A Hispanic Episcopalian was pulled over recently and asked to show his papers. He was born and raised in the U.S. and had his valid Arizona driver’s license with him but that wasn’t good enough for the deputies since they’ve seen “too many fakes.” So now he, and others like him, are avoiding church because the congregations are afraid of detainment or harassment by over-zealous deputies.

The problem? He, and many others, worship within one of Arpaio’s Crime Suppression Operation, which is bordered by 16th and 40th streets, and McDowell and Indian School roads in Phoenix. Most are of Hispanic origin and they have been pulled over and asked to provide their papers.

According to my boss, The Rt. Rev. Kirk S. Smith, Arpaio's deputies interrupted a confirmation service on April 6 in a Roman Catholic Church in Guadalupe, a largely Hispanic neighborhood where Arpaio started another Crime Suppression Unit. And on Good Friday Bishop Smith received a call from the priest at a Spanish-speaking church in Phoenix. He drove to the scene and found an officer. "I tried to explain to him that not only were his men frightening law-abiding citizens, but they were in fact violating if not the letter, then at least the spirit of the Constitution by preventing people from going to church--it's called freedom of religion. Suffice it to say, the deputy, although polite, was not interested. He had his orders."

This despite the fact that Arapio’s own press release dated Jan. 18 stated, “The posse members and deputy sheriffs will not racially profile anyone in this operation.”

How can Arpaio’s office say that on the same page as “Illegal immigration arrests anticipated.” Are they pulling over French speakers to make sure they haven’t come here illegally from Canada? Are they pulling over blue-eyed blonds as suspected illegal European immigrants? How about people of middle-eastern descent?

A second press release released Jan. 22 crowed that the “Operation nets twenty-seven arrests in first ten hours, including five illegal aliens.”

Let us not forget that Arpaio and his deputies are doing this “as a result of a letter to the Sheriff from business owners in the area who asked for his help saying they have more faith in the Sheriff’s office to reduce the ongoing property crimes occurring there, including the illegal immigration problem.”

More faith in the Sheriff’s office than who, may we ask? Who is he going to go after next? The Holocaust comes to mind when “recent” racial profiling was enacted under the guise of politics protecting the people from a targeted minority. It didn’t matter if you were Jewish it just mattered if you looked Jewish.

I can only hope that Sheriff Joe Arpaio faithfully reads this.

On the Net: http://www.azcentral.com/12news/news/articles/2008/04/11/20080411churcharpaio041108-CR.html