After 5 Investigates presented its story about allegations that Sheriff Joe Arpaio abuses the power his office gives him, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office released a statement on its Web site:

...Rather than dignify the reporter and his piece with a lengthy response to assertions made, we will simply respond with a few ‘facts’ of our own.

Their expert interview who insisted that an indictment be sought against Sheriff Arpaio also said that no where in America should Arpaio’s tactics ever be tolerated. His name is David Iglesias. This is the same attorney who was fired in 2006 by the US Attorney General for several different reasons.

Iglesias was criticized for looking the other way in an investigation involving ACORN, an organization that embraces illegal immigration and is currently under intense scrutiny and investigation by the US government for fraudulent schemes.

Paul Charleton, a colleague of Iglesias and was often quoted in the Channel 5 piece, was also a U.S. Attorney fired in that same 2006 house cleaning by the U.S. Attorney General. Now he is the attorney of record for Don Stapley in his fraud investigation which obviously leaves Charleton as an impartial and bias observer of the facts... Read more

In the fall of 2008, the U.S. Department of Justice released the results of its investigation into the firing of multiple U.S. Attorneys, including Iglesias and Charlton, and determined "the process used to remove the nine U.S. Attorneys in 2006 was fundamentally flawed." (Read full report (.pdf))

An anonymous commenter writes:

Joe is correct for enforcing immigration laws. However he needs to focus on ALL laws, not just a few select ones. I voted for him, but it is time for him to go. He consistently abuses his authority. His command staff likewise need to be indicated and jailed.
America needs to create a common sense immigration law and then properly enforce it. Remember, we are the melting pot of the world. That is the history of this country.

DayLaborServices writes:

I have mix feeling about Sheriff Joe,he is by all accounts trying to do his job as an elected official.The problem is not with Sheriff Joe per say but it is with the greedy mind set of the politicians of the state.

10 or more years ago when I moved here from New Jersey as a professional trained painter I could not get a job paying over $12.00 an hour even though I had over 12 of painting experience.Do you know why that was?

They had so many illegal worker here that a company could hire 2 of them for the price that they would pay me. During that time their was no body yelling about sending all the illegals back to where ever!

Now that the economy is bad the illegals are of no value. In the mean time most Americans have left the skill trade industry so they will be a shortage when the economy picks up again.By the way what happen to all of that money that poured into Arizona during that time,the "Rainy Day Fund".

Sheriff Joe is a little harsh in his demeanor and how he comes across but he is doing his job. The next time you vote for your politician make sure that they can't be bought and supports American workers.

Stacy writes:

The problem with Arpaio is that he wants to pick and choose which laws he wants to enforce. By the looks of his press releases this man is absolutely obsessed with only going after immigration and animal abusers.

I think he's a liability to our county and because he's received so much national attention for his TV tantrums, he's just a plain embarrassment to us all. Tisk tisk tisk.

Linda in Scottsdale writes:

It make me mad about the group who claim the illegal alien have right. I am a tax payer and I am tired of paying their way in this country. What kind of right they should have in this country? I would like to know and what kind of right the tax payers should have in this country? By us have to spend millions of dollars to secure the border is not working and we have try everythings is not working. The only person will stand up to this is Sheriff Joe. Now you telling me that he is wrong to doing his job which my tax money pay for it. Hell, this group think they have right should open their home to take in all the illegal and support them and let see how long that going to last.

Editor's note: This e-mail was chosen for publication because 1) its subject matter was Sheriff Joe Arpaio and 2) it was sent to us through a form that explicitly states we may use responses for publication.