Your Papers, Please, Phoenix and Flagstaff, Part 5

Earlier in this series of posts I said that Arizona's draconian immigration law would be overturned the minute some rich white couple was arrested and harassed.  Digby reminds us that there's a good chance that the harassment part of whites in Arizona who will protest this law is going to happen (think cops and white civil rights protesters in the South in the 60's) and that Arizona's hardest cops like infamous Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio are going to be doing it in order to intimidate anyone to keep people from criticizing them.

The MCSO (Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office) uses physical intimidation against anyone they see as a critic. They’ve parked unmarked cars across the street from the home of the State Attorney General (Terry Goddard). Maricopa County residents have paid tens of millions in lawsuit settlements because of use of force in Arpaio’s lockup (a tent city, inmates forced to wear pink underwear-- not kidding).

Item: Last year Arpaio and County Attorney Andy Thomas filed a civil RICO lawsuit against all the Maricopa County Supervisors, four of the state Judges for the Maricopa County jurisdiction, plus various county employees, supposedly over corruption in building a new courthouse office building in Phoenix. (Dropped 2 weeks ago, Thomas resigned and is running for state AG.) Not one shred of evidence was ever offered. Item: County Supervisor Don Stapley was arrested in the county parking structure in Phoenix and booked, because they filed charges against him related to non-disclosure of financial transactions on disclosure forms.

And these guys will soon get free reign to go after anyone they have a reasonable suspicion of being an illegal...or any under suspicion of helping them.  What's coming in Arizona later this year is going to be shocking to many Americans.  Of course there are Arizona cops in on the bill.  As far as outfits like the MCSO go, it's open season.

The only good news is that the law will go into effect in August or September, right in time for the heart of campaign season.  If Obama and lawmakers don't act by then on immigration, then they won't get a chance to until the lame duck session in November/December after the election.  By then it may be too late.  But news of mass arrests and deportations in Arizona just in time for Labor Day may at least have the saving grace of mobilizing the Democratic base.

But odds are we're going to see something truly nasty in the fall.