HRC Condemns Trump's Pardon of Anti-Immigrant, Racist, Anti-LGBTQ Joe Arpaio
WASHINGTON — The Human Rights Campaign ( HRC ) released the following statement condemning President Donald Trump's presidential pardon of former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
"Joe Arpaio must be held accountable for his long record of violating the civil rights of Maricopa County's Latinx population, and carrying out a hate-filled agenda through extreme racial profiling," said HRC Senior Vice President for Policy and Political Affairs JoDee Winterhof. "During his tenure, Arpaio has attacked nearly every marginalized community, including using anti-LGBTQ schemes to humiliate inmates at his 'Tent City' prison. By pardoning Arpaio, Trump is again aligning himself with his nationalist, racist, anti-LGBTQ supporters — only two weeks after the violent extremism in Charlottesville."
Arpaio additionally campaigned against the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals ( DACA ) program, which provides much needed relief for undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children. DACA allows these young people to come out of the shadows and live fully within their communities — including 75,000 LGBTQ Dreamers.
Earlier this week, HRC joined Voto Latino by signing a coalition letter sent to President Donald Trump expressing opposition to the potential presidential pardon of Arpaio.
From ACLU of Illinois:
Statement of Edwin C. Yohnka, Director Communications and Public Policy, ACLU of Illinois on the pardon of Joe Arpaio, August 26, 2017
Sheriff Joe Arpaio implemented policies that targeted and violated the rights of communities of color across Maricopa County, Arizona. He was convicted in federal court of willfully violating a federal court order that required his agency to stop detaining people based solely on suspected civil immigration violations.
Trump's pardon is a message to other law enforcement officials who seek to deliberately violate people's constitutional rights. It is also another disturbing signal to the emboldened white nationalist movement in this country that the White House supports racism and bigotry.
Here in Chicago, we face a broken police department in need of reform. The President of the United States has shown again that his administration is unwilling to hold law enforcement accountable. The City cannot reform the police department by cutting an of court deal with the current Department of Justice.
