Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio to place inmate made crosses on the border where immigrants have perished.

Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio has done it again…

Frankly, some would consider placing crosses where a human been has lost his life a noble idea. It would be so if the Sherriff of Arizona’s Maricopa Sherriff‘s plan was to somehow pay tribute to the men and women that left there poverty stricken countries for a better life for them and for their children. But we think that is not what is behind the Sheriff’s plan.

The sheriff Joe Arpaio’s plan will have Deputies in Maricopa County place white wooden crosses to mark the locations in the desert where immigrations died trying to enter the United States from Mexico. Sheriff Joe Arpaio announced on Thursday that 14 people have died since June at Gild Bend. More than 30 people have been rescued in the same area, he said at a Thursday news conference in the desert south of Phoenix.”Desert crossers are dying in unknown numbers due to the desert’s brutal conditions and excessively high temperatures,” the sheriff said.

According the sheriff, inmates are the ones making the crosses will serve as landmarks so people in distress in the desert can give their location when they call for help. I personally think the Sherriff is trying to instill the fear of death as a deterrent to all who plan to cross. In the past, the sheriff criticized the Federal Government for failing to completely close the border and that they should reimburse Maricopa County for “the time and resources spent on these mercy missions.”

Sherriff Joe Arpaio is well known for his strict approach to immigration enforcement in Arizona; his methodology has been at odds with the federal government over immigration policy. This past May, a federal judge agreed with the Justice Department that the Sherriff’s deputies were illegally detaining Hispanics on pretexts to try to find undocumented people. Sherriff Joe Arpaio has said he will appeal the judge’s ruling on the county’s traffic sweeps program.

I for one think that immigrants are a welcome addition to our country. This great country of ours always benefits from the ideas, enthusiasm and desire to work that comes with people from other lands. It takes courage and determination to leave your family behind, cross the arid desert, and face organized gangs in Mexico, for the promise of a better life.

I am in favor of immigration reform. I trust President Obama and the congress will find common ground and invite into the fold of America those men and women here now who are working, trying to educate their children and are contributing members of our society. As for Sherriff Joe Arpio’s crosses in the desert? I say NO!!

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