Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the self-described toughest sheriff in America, is now in the national spotlight because his office allegedly did not investigate sex crimes in 2005. This is old news in Arizona. In 2008, a Mesa newspaper won a Pulitzer for exposing irregularities in the sheriff’s office — and the apparent siphoning of resources into well-publicized immigration raids instead of community policing — including the investigation of sex crimes in El Mirage.

Here’s a quick geography lesson for those of you who don’t live in Arizona. Maricopa County, which elects the sheriff, is the  most populous county in Arizona. The sheriff is allowed to police every community in Maricopa County, including Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa, Gilbert, Chandler , Tempe, Guadalupe and El Mirage.

The sheriff has long been under fire for failing to police while diverting resources to immigration, as I said before. The sheriff’s department has cost the county millions in lawsuits filed by relatives of dead inmates alleged to have died wrongfully, or judges and other county officials who alleged the sheriff’s baseless but well publicised investigations of them were meant to harass them and ruined their careers. Sheriff Joe’s  office has been under scrutiny for misspending and abuse of power, and the U.S. Department of Justice has been investigating alleged civil rights abuses for three years. His chief deputy and several officials were dismissed or resigned amid allegations of abuse of power and yet, the sheriff goes on, bolstered by out-of-state campaign donations that almost guarantee he will be elected in 2012.

But things may change — the same group that managed to recall Russell Pearce, the once powerful senator who sponsored Arizona’s immigration law, SB 1070, now wants to recall Arpaio. And locals are predictably calling for his ouster in the national media frenzy over the old Arizona news of botched sex crime investigations.

If you want to see a video of me and Sheriff Joe, go to my  main page, and click on “videos and excerpts,” you can see a video of me and the sheriff.

Today the Associated Press reports that apprehensions of unauthorized immigrants at the border declined for the fifth straight year, and are at the same rate we saw during the Nixon administration.

In the meantime, the Obama Administration continues to deport at a record clip.

And Republicans are moderating their hardline stance on immigration reform.  Republicans are historically  the party that enacts immigration reform. The last big reform was led by Ronald Reagan.

Newt is talking about a kinder, gentler policy. And so are pundits like  Bill O’Reilly.

The Republicans have a chance of winning this election if they can win over Latinos, who are disenchanted with what they see as the the Obama administration’s broken promises to enact reform.

This all leads me back to my book, which chronicled the vivid stories — and the stunning effects of a broken immigration policy — of undocumented immigrants in the Phoenix area during the Arizona immigration law controversy. In the book, Illegal, Life and Death in Arizona’s Immigration War Zone, I posited that the real problem wasn’t the right-wing frenzy over illegal immigration, because despite the heated rhetoric illegal immigration was waning significantly.

The real immigration problem centers on the unauthorized immigrants who live here  — and the  way in which our nation chooses to treat human beings.

Dominque Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund who was widely viewed as a likely contender for the French presidency, faced sexual assault allegations by a chambermaid who says he attacked her in May. The maid, an immigrant from  Guinea, speaks a West African dialect called Fulani. The maid spoke Fulani to a mysterious West African friend who was incarcerated someplace in Arizona for drug charges, and the call was recorded, and this helped shatter  her credibility. (She also lied on her income tax form and her political asylum application, according to press reports.)  The reason the taped phone conversation shattered the maid’s cred,  at least in the eyes of newspaper reporters who talked to prosecutors,  is  that the maid said something to the effect of “Don’t worry I know what I am doing” and the inference was that she was going to scam DSK, who is enormously rich.

After word of the taped conversation got out, DSK, who on home arrest in cushy quarters in New York, was released. (He can’t leave the USA, though.) Prosecutors still haven’t decided whether they will pursue the case.

In other words, that phone call with the guy in Arizona was important.

I’m telling you all this so you’ll know why media outlets all over the USA were scrambling to get in touch with the mysterious West African friend, to get his side of the story. The problem, though, was that no one knew his name, or where he was incarcerated.

That is, until The Daily Beast found him. His name is Amara Tarawally, and he is an unauthorized immigrant from Sierra Leone, and in an exclusive interview with me, he claims  he’s the maid’s fiance. He was arrested in a pot bust in Chandler, Arizona, about a year ago. After serving time in jail, he was transferred to a detention center in Eloy, Arizona, pending a hearing on his immigration status.  But since his immigration case is based in New York, the case hasn’t been transferred out to Arizona yet and he’s in limbo. He told me even Sierra Leone would be better than detention because he’s been in the dark for so long, and feels cut off from the world. He also told me the phone call was taken completely out of context, that the maid is a beautiful woman who would never lie, and that he learned English from watching CNN, The Price is Right, and Deal or No Deal.

You can read the story here.

And here is an NBC interview I gave earlier today.

What do you think?

Did DSK assault the maid?

And how come just about every good news story has an Arizona connection?

ARIZONA EMPLOYER SANCTIONS LAW UPHELD BY U.S. SUPREME COURT ENFORCED AGAINST IMMIGRANTS, NOT EMPLOYERS

Last week, the United States Supreme Court upheld Arizona’s Employer Sanctions Law, which went into effect in 2008. The law was  supported by the  Federation for American Immigration Reform and sponsored by its chief Arizona ally, Arizona state senator Russell Pearce. The legislature passed the law in 2007,  and Gov. Janet Napolitano signed it, as a way to sanction employers who hired unauthorized workers. The law says any business twice caught and charged with hiring unauthorized workers could have its business license yanked.

I wrote about this law in 2007 and 2008 for Newsweek.com, taking a look at both sides.  At the time Janet Napolitano told me, “If Arizona is a laboratory for democracy, then so be it.”

And I wrote about the law again for The  Daily Beast, and included background info, the Supreme Court fight, etc. Keep in mind that this law has nothing to do with Arizona’s draconian immigration law, SB 1070, which is also being challenged in the courts.

Last week, the Supreme Court  upheld a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling. In a nutshell, the court ruled that the employer sanctions  law was constitutional because it did not infringe on federal law. In fact, states are entirely within their rights to control business licenses, the courts ruled.

But, as is so often the case with Arizona immigration laws, the employer sanctions law does not punish Arizona businesses.

At least, not much.

Less  than five businesses have been sanctioned in the three years since the law  has taken effect.

Employer-sanctions prosecutions have occurred in only one county — Maricopa County, which encompasses Phoenix and most of its suburbs. That’s the headquarters of Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his allies in the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors  from other counties don’t take the law seriously, saying it is a flawed piece of legislation that does not allow prosecutors the necessary tools to put forth a good case.

(Photo credit: promigrant.com)

The law,  intended to go after businesses, has been used by Sheriff Joe to investigate car washes and landscaping companies and round up unauthorized immigrants in front of television news cameras. At taxpayer expense, the zip-tied immigrants are hauled off to jail, slapped with working-with-fake-papers felony charges (identity theft and forgery)  defended by public defenders, prosecuted, tried, and sent to jail for several months. (Please see wonky footnote at end of this story.)

Then after they serve their jail time, many are deported.

But many are not. If they’ve got families in Phoenix,  they will do anything to stay with their kin.

That includes mounting a fight against deportation in federal immigration court. And while immigrants pay for their lawyers, taxpayers pay for the court costs and prosecution, which drags on for years.

So in Arizona, many consider the employer-sanctions law as a thinly disguised way to get rid of Mexicans.

Not sanction employers.

***

WONKY FOOTNOTE: (Sheriff Joe’s employer-sanctions based raids result in many undocumented immigrants in his jails classified as felons.  This classification is peculiar to Sheriff Joe’s  jails. The state and federal government do not have a way of counting the number of unauthorized immigrant felons in  prisons.  Repeat, there is no way to know how many undocumented migrant felons are in American  prisons. Prisons are where the hardcore guys go, and the feds don’t filter  felon undocumented immigrants in their stats. Instead, the feds and states lump all immigrant-crooks, documented and undocumented, into one category.)

MYTHBUSTING 101- CRIMINAL ALIENS IN ARIZONA PRISONS

Flashback to 2010. During the height of the battle over SB 1070, Arizona’s notorious immigration law that makes it a state crime for unauthorized migrants to set foot in Arizona (it has been paralyzed in the courts, and is largely emasculated at this point) I spoke with John Kavanagh, one of the supporters of SB 1070. Kavanagh is a former Port Authority and New Jersey cop. He retired as a detective sergeant. And he told me that “illegal” prison inmates are costing Arizona plenty.

I remember asking him how he knew this, and he referred me to the Arizona Department of Corrections.

The department now reports about 13 percent of its prison population is made up of “criminal aliens.”

But that does not mean that  13 percent of Arizona’s prison inmates are undocumented immigrants?

No.

And there’s no way of telling how many in our prisons are undocumented immigrants.

***

The reasons lie in arcane definitions.

The definition for  “criminal aliens” is “noncitizens convicted of crimes while in this country legally or illegally,” according to the GAO.

DHS defines an “alien” as anyone in the U.S. who is not a citizen or national of the United States, according to its website. Aliens can be perfectly legal. They can be asylees. They can have work papers. They can have visas. On the  other hand, “aliens”  can be in the country illegally. Aliens who are here illegally are called “unauthorized aliens” or “illegal aliens.”

Legal and “illegal” aliens can both be  “criminal aliens.”

Bottom line, we just don’t know how many undocumented immigrants sit in  Arizona prisons.

It is wrongheaded  to label the entire “criminal alien” population in Arizona prisons as undocumented  immigrants (Kavanagh calls them “illegals”) because the population isn’t counted in a way that will give us that data.

Period.

End.

For years, this journalist has  tried to avoid what we in the j-world call “flaks” — they have a lot of other names, too. Communications specialists. Public information officers. Publicists.

We journos sneak around publicists if we think they’re trying to keep us from the truth. But there are very good publicists, too, who help us get the interviews we need.

I never thought I’d need a publicist.

But I do.

Because I can’t multitask.  I’m an author and a public speaker, but I’m above all else a journalist, and I still have to cover  intense stories that take up a lot of time.

After all, this is Arizona.

But in the meantime, journalists wanted to interview me.

I don’t want you to think I’m a raving egomaniac. I’m  not. Or at least I try not to be.

But ever since my book came out, I’ve gotten requests for interviews from journalists who want me to talk about the book, the immigrants who reside in its pages, or other newsbreaking stories in Arizona — crazy laws,  Joe Arpaio, guns, politics, murder, Shawna Forde, you name it.

And I’ve also been asked to speak on panels, at book clubs, at university gatherings.

All of this deeply honors me, and humbles me. For months I’ve been trying to schedule it on my own AND write stories.

But as I said, I can’t multitask.

So, a  terrific publicist has agreed to take on the scheduling, public speaking, media organizing for the author-public-speaking-media  side of my professional life.

Her name is Carmen Cornejo, and she owns Critical Mass Communications. This is her picture.

CARMEN CORNEJO

She’s stunningly qualified, kind, and very smart.

Here is how you reach Carmen:
(480) 324-6378
carmen@criticalmassc.com
www.criticalmassc.com

If you can’t reach Carmen, try Bob Sembiante, the senior publicist at Globe Pequot Press, which published my book. robert.sembiante@globepequot.com — 203-458-4555.

In closing, here’s a photo taken at Changing Hands bookstore after a reading. They sold out of books. They had to borrow some of mine so they would have enough to sell. YAY AND WOOT!

We were celebrating. I’m on the left. Carmen is on the right. In the middle is Bobby Boos, who designed this website and keeps it alive even when I go into its guts and screw up the code.

TERRY, BOBBY AND CARMEN AT A CHANGING HANDS READING

As I said, we have a lot of fun.

Thank God I’m in good hands.

VILLAGE VOICE MEDIA INVESTIGATION BY TERRY GREENE STERLING TIES “CENTRIST” THINK TANKS AND GROUPS TO WHITE NATIONALISTS, REVEALS  MISLEADING REPORTS ARE USED TO ASSAULT 14TH AMENDMENT, AND SCARE THE HELL OUT OF PENNY PINCHED AMERICANS.

Among the findings:

1. The  “cost of illegal immigration” by Federation for American Immigration Reform include cost of educating American citizen children with one or more parents who are unauthorized immigrants. Economists consider education an investment, because it pays off after the child becomes an adult and begins working, paying taxes, and consuming goods. But the economic counterbalance  is missing in the FAIR report, making the cost staggering.

2. 14th Amendment “birthright citizenship” “anchor baby” movement tied to White Nationalists.

3. FAIR and sister organizations  drive immigration debate but are  tied to White Nationalists.

4. Unauthorized immigrants are not an undue burden on the economy, most economists say.

5. A special section on White Nationalist books.

6. Ties of White Nationalists to Arizona’s immigration law hardliners.

Here is the story.

A VETERAN ARIZONA CRIME REPORTER REVEALS MORE INCONSISTENCIES IN THE SHOOTING STORY OF DEPUTY LOUIE PUROLL, WHO CLAIMS HE WAS SHOT IN THE DESERT BY AK47-TOTING NARCOS…..

On these pages, I’ve written about a verbal mano-a-mano between a Pinal County sheriff deputy named Louie Puroll, and  my former colleague Paul Rubin, who works for my alma mater, Phoenix New Times. Rubin has been with the paper for decades and often covers murders, the judicial system, and other crime stuff.  He’s like a pit bull, he won’t let go of a story until he has satisfied his journalistic curiosity. You can read my earlier posts about this faceoff  here and here and here.

Flash back to the Arizona desert earlier this spring, at the height of the fervor over the passage of Arizona’s immigration law, SB 1070, when Puroll claimed  he’d been ambushed — and shot — in the desert by narcotraficantes with Sinaloan accents toting  backpacks of drugs and AK47s.

LP’s alleged AK47 wound was not serious, the guy wasn’t even hospitalized over night. The narcos were never found. Niether were their AK47s. Or their bags of drugs. Rubin wrote several stories that questioned Puroll’s veracity. In one story, Rubin quoted forensic experts who said the deputy’s shirt would have gunpowder residue  on it if he’d been shot at close range. (Meaning, if the deputy had shot himself.)  So the Pinal County Sheriff’s office asked DPS to check the shirt, and when no gunpowder was found, the Pinal County sheriff’s office announced Puroll had been cleared.

Not in Paul Rubin’s eyes.

In his latest inquiry, Rubin visits the alleged crime site with Puroll and uses the scene to point to inconsistencies in the deputy’s story.

He points again to the paucity of shell casings (Puroll said he was facing a firestorm), a mysterious break in the t-shirt custody chain, and contradictory reports from the deputy. The story ends creepily, with Puroll pulling out a gun and telling Rubin he won’t miss next time he has to shoot someone.

My fearless prediction: We haven’t heard the end of this story.

UPDATE: DECEMBER 2, 2010. I WAS RIGHT! Today Puroll was put on administrative leave for the things he said in the Rubin story.  You can read the update here.

ON ELECTION DAY, SOME YOUNG LATINOS IN ARIZONA VOICED THEIR OPPOSITION TO ARIZONA’S NEW IMMIGRATION LAW, SB 1070, BY TRYING TO GET OUT THE VOTE.  HERE’S MY TAKE FOR AZCENTRAL LAST NIGHT. AZCENTRAL IS THE ONLINE SITE FOR THE BIG PHOENIX DAILY, THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC.

CELSO.

Read the rest of the post about this DREAMER here.

And here’s another post, about Fidel, a young American citizen canvassing neighborhoods.

Latino activists are still crunching the Arizona numbers.  For sure, Arizona’s immigration law helped elect positively impacted those candidates  who supported it. But this law, which aims to kick all undocumented people out of Arizona, has affected many Latino citizens personally. And I’m convinced a lot of Arizona voters don’t even understand the law.

Let me explain. In a nutshell, SB 1070 aims to boot all unauthorized immigrants out of Arizona. But a fascinating Arizona Republic poll released in July indicates that while 55 percent of Arizonans supported SB 1070, an incredible 62 percent wanted employed unauthorized immigrants without criminal records to stay in Arizona.

How can you want to kick out the very people you say you want to stay?

Long story short, über confusion rules the Arizona electorate when it comes to SB 1070.

What’s even more confusing to voters is that a federal judge in Phoenix temporarily enjoined parts of the law, so it’s not being enforced to its full extent right now. It may never pass judicial muster. But no matter. It’s already had its impact. The law propelled Jan Brewer and her Republican allies in Arizona to victory.

More important, the passage of SB 1070 deeply wounded and insulted many young Hispanic voters in Arizona. They’re the ones who are likely to get stopped and hassled. They’re the ones with undocumented grandparents and parents and siblings.

And honestly, this election is just a blip to them. They know their numbers are growing. And they will not forget SB 1070.

ARIZONA JOURNALISTS RAISE EVEN MORE TROUBLING QUESTIONS ABOUT THE ADMINISTRATIONS OF MARICOPA COUNTY SHERIFF JOE ARPAIO AND HIS NEIGHBOR AND ALLY, PINAL COUNTY SHERIFF PAUL BABEU, AND A SUSPICIOUS DEPUTY SHOOTING THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN A HOAX

Two close political allies who’ve made names for themselves as lawmen protecting Arizonans from perceived misdeeds of “illegal aliens” are now facing increased scrutiny from reporters and public officials.

This week, the Maricopa County Board of  Supervisors, which oversees funding for the office of Sheriff Joe Arpaio,  learned that an internal audit of the sheriff’s office indicates that the sheriff may have misspent up to $80 million in the past five years. According to The Arizona Republic, the  auditors allege that the sheriff’s administration kept two sets of books, which allowed it to secretly take  money from one untouchable fund and funnel it into those well-publicized immigration enforcement activities. (Read, raids.)  Of course, the board, which has felt the wrath of Sheriff Joe, turned its findings over to the U.S. Department of Justice, which is conducting two ongoing investigations of the sheriff’s administration that may lead to the indictment of Sheriff Joe himself.

Sheriff Joe isn’t the only guy who’s being scrutinized.

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, the former boarding school principal turned anti-migrant lawman, first grew famous by walking along the “dang fence” in John McCain’s primary-campaign television ad. Then Babeu (he likes to call himself “Sheriff Paul” just as Arpaio is known as Sheriff Joe guested on a white-supremacy show and a conspiracy theory show. ) Sheriff Paul blamed his appearances on the radio shows on a bumbling aide, and the McCain camp did not pull either the dang fence ad or Sheriff Paul’s endorsement.

For months, Sheriff Paul has stood behind his deputy, who claimed he was shot by AK-47 toting Sinaloan narcos.  Despite a massive search, the narcos were never found. Nor was the massive load of pot they were supposed to be carrying. And the deputy who claimed he was shot by the narcos suffered a grazing wound that experts now say was shot at close range. You can thank Paul Rubin, of the Phoenix New Times, for having the fine good sense to send a picture of the deputy’s wound to forensic experts.

In short, lawmen, forensic experts and newspaper reporters have all questioned whether the deputy’s shooting was a hoax.

Was it intended to further terrify Arizonans already terrified by false reports that an Arizona rancher was definatively shot by an “illegal alien?”

That rancher murder, which spurred the passage of SB 1070, is actually unsolved.

Babeu’s office said the deputy’s shooting was not a hoax. It was the real deal, Babeu said.

Now Sheriff Paul,  incredibly, is investigating the alleged crimes at Sheriff  Joe’s office.