Aug. 5, 2010
Our colleague Elizabeth Dias files this report:
If you've followed the illegal immigration controversy in Arizona, you'll be familiar with the state's hard-edged Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who is famous for dressing inmates in pink underwear and for boasting an all-female chain gang. Loved by conservatives, hated by immigrant-rights groups, Arpaio is now in the news for an alleged threat on his life. He's been making the media rounds claiming a Mexican drug cartel has put a $1 million price on his head via a text message tree.
Some people are skeptical, as Arpaio is known for his constant appetite for publicity. (Even though he is not up for election this year, he is running a re-election ad.) Cartels are an Arizona hot-button, but they have not been a primary target of Arpaio's. In the past few years his office has arrested 35,889 undocumented immigrants, compared with only 303 "coyotes," the popular name for operators of human-smuggling rings. No one has publicly confirmed that the threat is actually from a cartel, and no information has been released on how the cartel phone number was traced, but sheriff's-department officials say the threat originated from a Mexican throw-away phone.
To continue reading, go here.
[Posted by Emily Solon]
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