Sheriff Joe Recall Not Expected to Gather Required Signatures
With only a few hours left until the deadline to recall Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, his supporters feel confident the requirements to proceed with a recall will not be met.
In order to make the recall of the Maricopa County Sheriff happen, organizers must turn in the more than 335,000 valid voter signatures by 4 p.m. Thursday. At last count, the total number of signatures collected was just over 200,000.
Those wanting to oust the controversial sheriff cited actions that led to a federal court ruling which found Arpaio and his office engaged in racial profiling. The ruling set off the movement to remove Arpaio from office.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
"It really reenergized the campaign," Beto Soto, an organizer with Respect Arizona, told VOXXI on Tuesday. "People are excited about the campaign and they're excited about recalling Arpaio."
The recall effort started more than eight months after a week-long trial. U.S. District Court Judge G. Murray Snow ruled that Arpaio and the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office racially profiled Latinos during crime sweeps and immigration patrols.
"The evidence introduced at trial establishes that, in the past, the MCSO has aggressively protected its right to engage in immigration and immigration-related enforcement operations even when it had no accurate legal basis for doing so," Snow stated in his 142-page ruling.
Tim Casey, an attorney representing Arpaio and the MCSO, previously responded to the ruling and insisted that his clients had not engaged in racial profiling. He added that the department and its deputies were only following training they received by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
"We're deeply disappointed with the outcome of the decision," Casey previously told VOXXI. "The MCSO's position is that it has never used race and will never use race to make a law enforcement decisions."
Arizona has been a focal point in the ongoing and hotly contested national immigration debate.
