Hillary Clinton is not the only leftist whose “dream is a hemispheric common market with open trade and open borders.” Her billionaire buddy and comrade-in-arms George Soros (shown) also wants open borders. And he puts his money where his misguided ideals are. In Maricopa County, Arizona, Soros and other deep-pocketed leftists are pulling out all the stops to unseat Sheriff Joe Arpaio because he enforces border protection.
Sheriff Arpaio has spent the majority of his 23 years in office in the spotlight for his strong, conservative practices. Much of the heat he has taken has been over his stance on illegal immigration. Arpaio began focusing on the myriad legal problems associated with illegal immigrants in 2005. Since then, his office has run a large number of operations investigating and raiding businesses in Maricopa County that employ illegals, and has arrested those illegals, charging them with identity theft. Arpaio’s office also conducts sweeps and raids of day-labor sites. He boasts a tremendous success rate in nearly 60 raids, with 100 percent of the people arrested for using stolen identity cards being proven to be illegal immigrants.
The philosophy behind Arpaio’s law-enforcement efforts is simple: Since a disproportionate percentage of crime is committed by illegals, arresting them for using stolen identities (which they do to appear legal) before they commit other crimes reduces overall crime and serves the public interest. In a press conference after ramping up his efforts to protect the border in 2007, Arpaio said, “Ours is an operation where we want to go after illegals, not the crime first,” adding, “It’s a pure program. You go after them, and you lock them up.”
Of course, this runs 180 degrees opposite the liberal agenda of Soros and company. It goes directly against the grain of two of the Left’s golden calves: open borders and law enforcement “reform.” As The New American reported in September, Soros and his ilk have committed more than $100 million to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in a concerted effort to wage a war on police. In the case of Arpaio, Soros has spent $2 million of his own money putting together a PAC to attack the sheriff and support his Democratic opponent, Paul Penzone.
The PAC — Maricopa Strong — has already spent $2.9 million on negative mailers and television ads, claiming that “Arpaio talks tough, but he doesn’t keep us safe,” because he ignores crime while he “focuses on his personal agenda.” That agenda, of course, is to take illegals off the streets of Maricopa County before they contribute disproportionately to the crime in that county.
Politico is reporting that Michael Vachon, a Soros spokesman, admitted that Soros is funding the attacks on Arpaio, saying:
We made a major investment in the effort to defeat Joe Arpaio for two reasons. First, Joe Arpaio has been a stain on the justice system in Arizona for more than two decades, violating civil rights and abusing his office. Second, his influence on the national conversation about immigration has been poisonous. This election is an opportunity to send a message: When matched on an even playing field, the values of justice and inclusion will defeat the politics of fear-mongering and intolerance.
The “fear-mongering and intolerence” Vachon condemns is actually simple respect for the rule of law. Penzone ran against Arpaio in the last election on a platform of reversing the trends Arpaio has worked to put into play, but was unable to defeat the man who has spent more than two decades protecting the citizens who have continued to re-elect him.
In this election, though (thanks in no small part to the anti-police rhetoric of Soros-funded BLM), Arpaio may have a closer race on his hands. The well-funded attack orchestrated by Maricopa Strong may be enough to tip the scales. If so, the influx of illegals (and the crimes they will commit) will likely destroy the relative peace and law and order enjoyed by the citizens of Maricopa County. “Maricopa Strong” will make Maricopa weak on crime.
Photo: AP Images
