For 24 years, Joe Arpaio was a tough talking sheriff in Arizona, famous for cracking down on illegal immigration.
About a decade ago Arpaio, dubbed “America’s Toughest Sheriff” in conservative circles, started instructing his deputies to make traffic stops and detain any unauthorized immigrants they encountered. Then they’d turn the immigrants over to federal agents for deportation.
He was voted out of his Maricopa County office in November but now faces his own legal troubles — a criminal trial begins Monday in which he is accused of ignoring a federal judge’s order to curtail his crackdown.
Many in the Latino community are happy to see the tables turned on him.
