Conservatives Open New Congress With Unconstitutional Bill To End Birthright Citizenship

By Ian Millhiser on Jan 5, 2013 at 2:54 pm

 

The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution expressly provides that nearly anyone born in the United States is a citizen, regardless of the immigration status of their parents. Yet, despite the Constitution’s clear command, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) wants to ignore our founding document and prevent the children of undocumented immigrants from becoming citizens:

It’s the first week of the 113th Congress, and one House member is already trying to stop children born in the United States to undocumented parents — whom he calls “anchor babies” — from gaining citizenship.

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), an outspoken hardliner on immigration, introduced a bill on Thursday that would “clarify those classes of individuals born in the United States who are nationals and citizens of the United States at birth.” The Supreme Court has consistently held that anyone born in the United States, regardless of their parents’ immigration status, should receive citizenship under the 14th Amendment.

King disagrees, as do 13 co-sponsors on the bill, including Reps. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) and Mo Brooks (R-Ala.).

The Constitution is clear that King’s bill is unconstitutional. Under the Fourteenth Amendment, “[a]ll persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” The word “jurisdiction” refers to people that are subject to American law.

Thus foreign diplomats and their families, who are granted broad immunity from U.S. law, are not entitled to citizenship under the 14th Amendment. Likewise, at the time the Fourteenth Amendment was drafted many Native Americans were subject only to tribal law and thus were not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States.

Undocumented immigrants and their children, by contrast, are not immune to U.S. law. And thus fit squarely within the Fourteenth Amendment’s command.

In the past two years, more than 200,000 parents have been removed from the country who say they have a U.S. citizen child.

ME rules on cause of jailed pregnant Pauls Valley mother's death

ME: No foul play involved in Jamie Fisher's death

UPDATED 10:35 AM CST Jan 11, 2013

Jamie Fisher died earlier this month after being arrested and booked into the Garvin County Jail while trying to get medical help.

PAULS VALLEY, Okla. —The medical examiner has issued a cause of death for the pregnant mother who died inside the Garvin County Jail, just hours after she tried to seek medical care at a nearby hospital.

According to the ME, the cause of Jamie Fisher's was a ruptured ectopic pregnancy and the manner of her death was natural. The ME found that there was "no foul play" involved in Fisher's death.

"She enjoyed life," said former neighbor and friend Sherry Kimberlin. "Every day was a new experience for Jamie."

Friends said the 33-year-old, also known as Jamie Russell, went to the Pauls Valley General Hospital on Jan. 3 complaining of severe abdominal pains.

According to the police report filed by a Pauls Valley officer, nurses said Jamie was "not cooperating" and they needed a nearby officer to assist. The officer said staff told Jamie to lay on her back so they could perform tests and Jamie refused, saying it hurt.

The officer said he observed Jamie lift her body to adjust her clothing, out of sight of the medical staff, which Jamie had told nurses she did not have the ability to do moments earlier.

According to the report, since Jamie could not cooperate the staff decided to release her. While helping Jamie gather her things, the officer said he discovered 2 pill bottles in Jamie's possession containing alprazolam and oxycodone that were not prescribed to her.

The officer wrote, "I advised Jamie of the situation but at this time she appeared very loopy."

The officer arrested Jamie on a felony narcotics complaint around the same time a family member arrived at the hospital. According to the report, the family member told police the drugs belonged to an older family member and, "Jamie had probably stolen them."

The officer transported Jamie to the Garvin County jail around 8:30 p.m. where she was booked into a holding area. According to the Garvin County Sheriff Larry Rhodes, at around 10:30 p.m. detention deputies noticed Jamie was unresponsive and called for medical attention. She was pronounced dead a short time later.

"Nobody deserves that," said Sherry Kimberlin, "Nobody deserves to die alone like that in a cage."

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and state jail inspectors were notified, as is common with any inmate death.

"My thoughts go out to the family," said Sheriff Larry Rhodes. "If there's anything we could do differently, we would."

A representative for OSBI said their investigation will focus on what happened once Jamie arrived at the county jail. Surveillance video from the jail was turned over to the state, but Rhodes said it shows no warning signs.
"The autopsy is really key to our investigation," said Jessica Brown with OSBI. "It will tell us whether or not this is natural, suspicious or whether or not it's a homicide."

Friends said they will not be satisfied until they learn why Jamie was allowed to leave the hospital.

"I want answers," said Sherry Kimberlin. "I want to know what happened."

A representative for the hospital could not be reached for comment.

Joe Scarborough Goes Off On Mika Brzezinski After She Asserts He’s ‘Being Chauvinistic’

by Meenal Vamburkar 

7:09 am, January 10th, 2013 video 

The Morning Joe family got heated and a bit awkward this morning during a discussion about the lack of diversity in President Obama‘s inner circle.

As Joe Scarborough pointed to the lack of outrage and the Republican/Democrat double standard, Mika Brzezinski vehemently disagreed — and told him he was being “chauvinistic.” Scarborough… didn’t take it well. At one point literally snapping his fingers at his co-host.

The issue of diversity took up the entire segment, but started to grow contentious when the BBC’s Katty Kay sought to downplay the lack of diversity in Obama’s cabinet while noting that Mitt Romney‘s “binders full of women” comment resonated because it reinforced the “1950s” attitude some perceived him having toward women.

“This is what’s wrong with political reporting,” Scarborough charged. The left took a “faux pas” and blew it up — but in Obama’s case, they’re talking about “something that matters.” Actual cabinet positions. That led to some back-and-forth between the two, who plainly disagreed.

As the segment went on, Brzezinski noted that Susan Rice could have been another woman in Obama’s cabinet had Republicans not “routed” her out.

“Talk about old guys being completely chauvinistic jerks,” she remarked, as Scarborough noted David Axelrod‘s assertion that Rice hadn’t been considered for the Secretary of State position. Brzezinski countered that the president’s policies speak to his commitment to women’s issues.

Still, the show went on… until Scarborough’s joking around proved to be too much for Brzezinski who told him, “You’re being chauvinistic right now.” She can make personal attacks, Scarborough retorted, but “you’ve got a president you worship on this show every day.” Yet she “savaged” Romney. Had the president been Republican, she’d have been upset about the issue, he argued.

“You really — knowing me and seeing me work around here for five years — you want to call me a chauvinist on television?” Scarborough asked, with Brzezinski replying that she wasn’t calling him that.

“I said the way you’re acting is chauvinistic,” she responded, “especially the way you were handling this conversation. It’s not funny.”

“Do I act like a chauvinist in Congress, the way I ran my office there, the way run my office here? I am a chauvinist?” Scarborough repeatedly pressed, as they argued and talked over each other. “Read your own book!”
“You can’t throw around attacks like that,” he said, “because you’re embarrassed about what Barack Obama’s doing.”

(Update: Later in the show, Brzezinski apologized to Scarborough, saying his “entire career” backs up the fact that he is not, indeed, a chauvinist. She reiterated her point that she disliked how Scarborough handled the segment.)

Videos of both the segment and the apology are below.
Take a look, via MSNBC:



Apology

Lobbyists Who Profit From Senate Dysfunction Fight Filibuster Reform

Lee Fang on January 9, 2013 - 5:04 AM ET

Both Democratic and Republican senators have protected contributors with filibusters. (Reuters/Jonathan Ernst.)

As momentum builds to reform the horrendously broken rules of the Senate, a cadre of Washington D.C. politicos are fighting back, arguing that the filibuster in its current form must be preserved.


Last week, Steven Duffield, in an opinion column for The Washington Examiner, pleaded for the status quo, claiming “Senate liberals want to gut” the filibuster, which he called a “long-standing protection for minorities.” Duffield, bylined simply as “vice president for policy at Crossroads GPS,” didn’t point to any examples of filibusters protecting the rights of minorities or marginalized groups. He listed other complaints, like the charge that rules reform will allow the Senate to “rubber stamp” Obama’s nominees to the Supreme Court.

In reality, the proposed reforms do not affect appointments to the Supreme Court. And a more comprehensive reading of the filibuster’s history would show that when it comes to civil rights for oppressed minority groups, the filibuster has actually served as a great obstacle for justice.

Maybe Duffield is alarmed about rules reform—which would limit anonymous holds, allow for a “talking filibuster” and expedite deliberations for some nominees—for another reason: his pocketbook.

Two years ago, I took a screen shot and saved a tidbit from Duffield’s now-deleted consulting website. Duffield’s firm, still lobbying and called Endgame Strategies, was quite candid in it’s pitch to potential corporate clients to use “backbench Senate Republicans” to block legislation (emphasis added):

Managing Holds and Filibusters. Your organization has an interest in a bill that has proven controversial and you require advocacy before those legislators—often backbench Senate Republicans—who may exercise their prerogatives to delay or obstruct. Endgame Strategies will give you new ways to manage your interests in a legislative environment that gives great power to individual senators.

Duffield, a former Senate aide to Arizona Republican Jon Kyl, literally sold filibusters, anonymous holds and the other forms of obstruction. In 2011, he reported at least $230,000 in lobbying fees. Current rules allow a senator to secretly block any legislation or nominee and then, without actually performing a talking filibuster, require a three-fifths majority vote—twice—to proceed eventually with a regular majority vote, a process ripe for abuse by well-connected political operators of both parties.

I’ve detailed before how lobbyists, even agents for foreign governments, have secured Republican filibusters at a shocking rate. The cottage industry around monetizing filibusters has grown rapidly since Obama’s first election. From 2009 to 2010, there were more filibusters filed than during the 1950s through 1960s combined, as The Nation’s Katrina vanden Heuvel observed.

The interesting dynamic for me is, how money in politics has incentivized this contraction of democratic governance. Here are just a few examples of how powerful industries have usurped the normal gears of government, and used Senate obstruction to push policies that punish ordinary Americans and the environment:

• Senator David Vitter (R-LA) placed holds on Obama EPA nominees to delay scientific assessments on the health risks of formaldehyde, which is produced by some of his largest campaign contributors.

Sen. David Vitter, R-La., has pushed the EPA to slow its process of updating its 20-year-old health assessment of formaldehyde. After Hurricane Katrina, thousands of his state's residents said they suffered respiratory problems after being housed in government trailers contaminated with formaldehyde. (Left: A child looks out of a FEMA trailer in Port Sulphur, La. May 2008 photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

   How Senator Vitter Battled the EPA Over Formaldehyde’s Link to Cancer by   by Joaquin Sapien 

According to a new report from Public Campaign Action Fund,  

• Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has collected a hundreds of thousands in funds from the same industries he has protected with filibusters, particularly from oil companies and the finance sector. McConnell has led filibusters to protect oil subsidies, to block efforts to mitigate the mortgage crisis, and against campaign disclosure reforms.

   Cashing In On Obstruction by   Peggy Satterfield

• Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) placed a “blanket hold” on every Obama nominee to force the administration to accept a Northrop Grumman contract to build a $35 billion refueling tanker in Mobile, Alabama. Northrop Grumman is a major Shelby donor.

• Senator John McCain (R-AZ) blocked the nomination of one of Obama’s most important Department of Labor nominees for months, which many believe led the US Chamber of Commerce to aggressively support McCain during a contentious primary with a Tea Party–backed candidate in 2010.

• Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA), a close ally of the oil and gas industry, temporarily blocked Obama’s nominee for the Office of Management and Budget to extract an administration promise to allow more oil drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico following the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe.

• Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) filibustered the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill in order to demand a policy that prevents FedEx drivers from unionizing. FedEx is Corker’s third-highest campaign donor.

   Lobbyists Who Profit From Senate Dysfunction Fight Filibuster Reform by   various writers

 

At the nexus of all of this obstruction are lobbyists who are making a small fortune negotiating these tactics.
Another politico complaining about changing the filibuster, Martin Gold—a lobbyist for Covington and Burling who represents Qualcomm, BP, Amazon.com, BAE Systems, the Principality of Liechtenstein, among others—told Investor’s Business Daily recently that rules reform is “unprecedented and unwise.”
Gold’s somber warning contrasts pretty sharply with the giddy language used to describe a government affairs seminar he led in 2011. The American League of Lobbyists promoted the event with the following language: “Can you turn Congressional rules and procedures into a tactical advantage for achieving your policy goals? Absolutely!”
The National Rifle Association is one of the most powerful lobbying groups in Washington. See how the organization helps the gun industry reap even greater profits following gun-violence tragedies.

Federal Court Halts Illegal NYPD Stop-And-Frisks

By Nicole Flatow on Jan 9, 2013 at 5:40 pm

A federal judge on Tuesday struck down a key component of the New York Police Department’s aggressive stop-and-frisk program, under which police stopped more young black men in 2011 than the city’s total population of young black men.

In the first federal court decision to find that some elements of the program violate the Fourth Amendment, U.S. District Judge Shira A. Scheindlin held that police officers in the Bronx are routinely stopping individuals outside private residential buildings without reasonable suspicion that they are trespassing, and with great consequence:

For those of us who do not fear being stopped as we approach or leave our own homes or those of our friends and families, it is difficult to believe that residents of one of our boroughs live under such a threat.

The stops are part of the Trespass Affidavit Program, also known as “Clean Halls,” in which property managers in the Bronx can ask the police to patrol their buildings and arrest trespassers. Scheindlin found that officers have misconstrued the program as allowing stops for anyone outside these properties, without regard for whether there is evidence that they are actually trespassing. Scheindlin describes the story of one of the name plaintiffs in the case:

[A]fter finishing his work for the day as a security guard, Charles Bradley, a black fifty-one year old resident of the Bronx, took the subway to visit his fiancée, Lisa Michelle Rappa, as they had arranged the evening before.

When Bradley arrived at Rappa’s apartment building, a young man who lived on the first floor and knew of Bradley’s and Rappa’s relationship let Bradley into the building. Bradley then walked up the stairs to Rappa’s apartment on the fifth floor and knocked. Because Rappa is deaf in one ear, Bradley waited a minute or two. When there was still no response, he returned downstairs and left the building. Outside, he looked up toward Rappa’s window.

While Bradley was standing on the sidewalk, an unmarked green police van approached and an officer in the passenger seat … gestured for Bradley to come over. After Bradley approached the van, the officer got out and asked, “What are you doing here?”
Bradley explained he was there to see Rappa, and that he worked as a security guard.

Bradley testified that the officer responded to his attempts to explain his presence by suggesting Bradley was acting “like a fucking animal,” searched Bradley’s pockets, then told Bradley to place his hands behind his back. Once Bradley was handcuffed, the officer placed him in the van, where there were two other officers. While the van drove away, the officers began to question Bradley: “When was the last time you saw a gun? When was the last time you got high? When was the last time you bought some drugs?”

After twenty or thirty minutes in the van, the officers stopped at the station house. Bradley was taken into a room, stripped, and told to wait. He was searched in “inappropriate areas.” For the next two hours, he waited in a cell with other people who had been arrested. He was then fingerprinted and given a desk appearance ticket and a date to appear in court to answer the criminal charge of trespassing.

Later, Bradley’s defense attorney provided the Bronx DA’s office with a notarized letter from Rappa stating that Bradley had been visiting her. “[A]t that point in time,” Bradley testified, “paperwork was submitted to me stating that the People of New York declined to prosecute.”

This encounter in and of itself is a disturbing example of how these police stops play out – resulting not just in an unreasonable stop and interrogation, but in subsequent harassing treatment such as strip-searching, detention, and verbal intimidation that far exceeds the scope of any perceived threat.
But perhaps the most significant aspect of the 157-page opinion is Judge Scheindlin’s explanation of the even greater potential cost for people not fortunate enough to have a public defender like Bradley’s:

The stakes of “field interrogation” by the police have dramatically risen since Terry [v. Ohio, which established the legal standard for stop and frisks,] was decided in 1968.

The use of incarceration has increased, sentences have grown, the threat of lengthy incarceration has created new incentives to plead guilty, and the collateral consequences of a conviction — on employment, housing, access to government programs, and even the right to vote or serve on a jury — have become more common and more severe. If an unjustified stop happens to lead to an unjustified arrest for trespassing, as it did in Charles Bradley’s case, not every overburdened public defender will have the wherewithal to obtain a notarized letter from the defendant’s host explaining that the defendant was invited, as Bronx Defender Cara Suvall did on behalf of Bradley.

When considering the relative hardships faced by the parties, it is important to consider the potentially dire and long-lasting consequences that can follow from unconstitutional stops.

This ruling is only a preliminary injunction, meaning the judge found the plaintiffs are likely to succeed in their case, with an order that police cease performing trespass stops without reasonable suspicion, and a forthcoming hearing on other potential remedies. The lawsuit filed by a class of blacks and Latinos is one of three to challenge the city’s stop-and-frisk program.

Since initial outrage over stark evidence that police racially profile in their stops and interrogations without any improvement in public safety outcomes, NYPD somewhat decreased the number of stop-and-frisks. But in the first nine months of 2012, the overwhelming majority —  87 percent — of the some 1,400 individuals stopped every day were black and Latino.

Sherriff Joe's Armed School Protection "Posse" includes Convicts & Sex Offenders

Thu Jan 10, 2013 at 10:31 AM PST

by Vyan

 

Chalk this one up in the You can't make this shit up column, but it's apparently true.

continue after article

'Sheriff's posse members to start patrolling schools this week'

by Catherine Holland and Jason Volentine

Video report by Javier Soto

Posted on January 7, 2013 at 6:53 AM

Updated Monday, Jan 7 at 11:15 PM

Poll:

Do you support Sheriff Joe Arpaio's plan to send armed posse members to protect schools in his juridiction?

Yes, and it should be expanded to all Maricopa County schools

No

or View results

 

MARICOPA COUNTY, Ariz. -- In a somewhat controversial move, members of Sheriff Joe Arpaio's volunteer posse are slated to start patrolling some Maricopa County schools.

Some of those posse members reportedly have criminal pasts. That's where the controversy comes in.

An MCSO spokesman said those people have already faced disciplinary action in connection with their crimes, either avoided felony convictions or petitioned to have their records expunged, and are now moving on.
Most of the schools that will be patrolled are located in county islands. The patrols will not be on the campuses, but rather in the area surrounding the schools. The idea is to have a visible law-enforcement presence around the schools.

“But if our lives were threatened or a child's life was threatened, a teacher’s life was threatened and we see that while on patrol, we would be prepared to take some kind of action,” posse member Jerry Johnson said.

Some 3,000 people are part of the sheriff's posse. While all of them are volunteers, even paying for all their own guns and equipment, posse members are insured by MCSO.  The county would therefore likely be on the hook for any liability if some kind of accident happened during a school patrol.

“I have the authority to mobilize private citizens and fight crime in this county,” Arpaio said two weeks after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. He said he does not need permission from the schools or the districts to launch these patrols.

Volunteers will patrol schools in towns that fall under sole jurisdiction of the sheriff's office – places like Cave Creek, Anthem, Fountain Hills, Sun City, Litchfield Park, Gila Bend, Carefree, Queen Creek, Guadalupe - which he said amounts to about 50 grade, middle and high schools.

Arpaio first started using his posse to protect malls during the holiday shopping season in 1993 in response to violent incidents in prior years. Since then he said malls where his posse members are on patrol have had zero violent re-occurrences and patrols by his all-volunteer squad during the 2012 shopping season netted a record 31 arrests.

Arpaio said since the program has worked so well in malls he believes it will work just as well protecting schools.

While some of the patrols were expected to start Monday, other members were slated to undergo training. The program will be fully rolled out Wednesday.
 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In a somewhat controversial move, members of Sheriff Joe Arpaio's volunteer posse are slated to start patrolling some Maricopa County schools.
Some of those posse members reportedly have criminal pasts. That's where the controversy comes in.
An MCSO spokesman said those people have already faced disciplinary action in connection with their crimes, either avoided felony convictions or petitioned to have their records expunged, and are now moving on

Ok, so that's just great.  Slate clean. Get your gun, head for the local school.   And exactly what are we "moving on" from, just so we're all clear about this?  

continues after article

 'Criminal pasts don't disqualify members of Arpaio posse'

Posted: Mar 14, 2012 4:14 PM EDT Updated: Mar 15, 2012 1:15 AM EDT

By Tammy Leitner - Posted by Steve Stout - 

CBS 5 - KPHO

PHOENIX (CBS5) -

Maricopa County Sheriff's Posse members wear uniforms, have badges, drive county vehicles and some even carry guns. And some of them also have criminal records.  

     

"They have as much power as the deputy wants to give them, including the power to arrest under the supervision of that deputy," said Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Arpaio wants his army of 3,000 volunteer posse members to look like sworn deputies and sometimes perform the same duties. But an in-depth project by CBS 5 Investigates uncovered a number of posse members with arrests for assault, drug possession, domestic violence, sex crimes against children, disorderly conduct, impersonating an officer - and the list goes on.           

These are crimes that are not tolerated in many professions, especially professions with an implied authority.

"We have about 600 (members) armed with guns," said Arpaio. "We haven't seen any problems with posse men and women shooting people and everything else. Where are all the problems?"

CBS 5 Investigates discovered that the county does not keep detailed records on posse members. A look into the backgrounds of about 2,000 of them revealed arrests for dozens of different crimes. From there, CBS 5 took a close look at some of the cases that were able to be confirmed.

"Don't get me wrong, I've done some things in my life that I'm not proud of," said Michael Hoopingarner who admits to being arrested for cocaine possession in 1999. "It's stuff that may not even be on paper. It's stuff that I had to disclose when I joined."

The process by which a candidate can be approved is subjective, at best.

A posse applicant "could be disqualified" if they have a felony conviction, have used illegal drugs excessively, or sport a misdemeanor narcotics conviction, according to the sheriff's office posse application. Despite Hoopingarner's disclosure, he was hired on the posse.            

And then there was Jacob Cutler. According to a Flagstaff police report, Cutler threw his girlfriend to the ground and choked her while trying to sexually assault her in 2008. When she didn't cooperate, he allegedly threatened to call police and said they would side with him, because he "has a badge." He was a member of Arpaio's posse at the time.

Cutler and Hoopingarner attended anger management and drug diversion programs, respectively, and their records were eventually wiped clean. Cutler maintained his posse membership and Hoopingarner was later approved as a member.

While combing through thousands of pages of court records and police reports, CBS 5 Investigates discovered that some posse members were behaving as though they were above the law. 

Kevin Ray Campos was arrested in 2007 outside a Scottsdale club for disorderly conduct. According to the police report, he spit on several bouncers and then hurled profanities at a Scottsdale police officer. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, according to court records, and was hired as a posse member a year later.

Law enforcement agencies should not allow people with criminal histories access to a badge or uniform or any other accessory that might give them the appearance of being a law enforcement officer, said former Arizona U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton, who has represented sworn police officers that have been under scrutiny for lesser crimes than these.

"If the posse members are being given badges, if the posse members are being given guns, then they ought to have the same supervision as other law enforcement agencies have," said Charlton. "Here, that's not taking place and that's reason for concern."

One posse member with an extensive disciplinary file is Douglas Clark, who also happens to be a constable. Clark has been counseled for rolling a county vehicle, driving 91 mph in a 45-mph zone, using his siren when not on a call, and using red-and-blue lights installed on his personal vehicle to look for something his wife had lost in the road.

CBS 5 Investigates tracked Clark down and asked him if he feels he is above the law.

"I can't answer anything on posse stuff," Clark told us. "I'm forbidden to answer anything with the sheriff's office."

And then there's the accusation from 2007 that a driver backed into Clark's car and then left the scene. Clark allegedly followed the car, rammed the vehicle and held the driver and passenger at gunpoint, all while he was off-duty.

Yet, Clark still remains in the posse.

"Law enforcement can be a long career," said Maricopa County Sheriff's Sgt. Dave Trombi. "People do things wrong throughout their career. We discipline them appropriately."

Ironically, it was the sheriff's office that recommended criminal charges against Clark for holding someone at gunpoint. Charges were never filed by the county attorney.

"We didn't turn a blind eye," said Trombi.

Law enforcement hiring budgets are tight across the nation, but the sheriff has found a way to employ his army of volunteers at no cost.

Posse members provide their own uniforms, handcuffs and guns, which can cost as much as $2,300.

"I don't know what we would do without the posse because we have a shortage of manpower and they pick up the slack free of charge, no cost to the taxpayers," said Arpaio.

While they don't draw a salary, posse members operate within taxpayer protection and under the county's insurance.

"There is no one in this country that has thousands of posse men and women doing the job on volunteerism," said Arpaio. "I have confidence in them. I have faith in them and I am going to continue to run the posse and hire more posse."

Copyright 2012 CBS 5 (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

CBS 5 - KPHO

Arpaio wants his army of 3,000 volunteer posse members to look like sworn deputies and sometimes perform the same duties. But an in-depth project by CBS 5 Investigates uncovered a number of posse members with arrests for assault, drug possession, domestic violence, sex crimes against children, disorderly conduct, impersonating an officer - and the list goes on.           These are crimes that are not tolerated in many professions, especially professions with an implied authority.

Usually this wouldn't be tolerated for someone under the color of authority, but in Sherriff Joe's Arizona - it is.

According to the local press these civilians will be insured by the Maricopa County Sherriff's Office, which means that the County is on the financial hook for anything that they might happen to do wrong - but they aren't.
Now it's fair to point this isn't really knew, Arpaio has tried it before.

Arpaio first started using his posse to protect malls during the holiday shopping season in 1993 in response to violent incidents in prior years. Since then he said malls where his posse members are on patrol have had zero violent re-occurrences and patrols by his all-volunteer squad during the 2012 shopping season netted a record 31 arrests. Arpaio said since the program has worked so well in malls he believes it will work just as well protecting schools.

I can understand the desire to give someone a second chance but... This is coming from the guy who - to this very day - thinks that Obama's Birth Certificate is a Forgery and is using taxpayer money to try and prove it.
This, coming from the Sherriff who arrested a six-year-old for suspicion of being "undocumented" on the same day that the President said that Federal Policy would be lenient on "undocumented" minors.

Continues after article

'Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio Arrests 6-Year-Old Undocumented Immigrant'

By Judd Legum on Jun 17, 2012 at 7:35 pm

 

Joe Arpaio, the controversial Arizona Sheriff from Maricopa County, arrested a 6-year-old undocumented immigrant on Friday. The move came the same day President Obama announced a new policy halting deportations for young undocumented immigrants.

The Arizona Republic has the story:

The girl was with 15 other people believed to be in the country illegally who were traveling to the Midwest and northeast United States, said Chris Hegstrom, spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office.

“She’s been turned over to ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to try to determine where she’s from. She told us she’s from El Salvador. That’s what she told us,” he said.

The arrest took place Friday night at an undisclosed location in northern Maricopa County…The sheriff said his deputies arresting child suspected of being an illegal immigrant the same day Obama implemented the policy is a coincidence. But if more illegal children enter the country after hearing about the new policy, Arpaio said it may not be by happenstance.“Are we going to get more of these situations where illegals feel like now they’re going to be safe? I don’t know,” he said.

Immediately following the President’s announcement Arpaio told a local ABC affiliate that it would not impact his approach toward young undocumented immigrants. “They will still be arrested,” he said.

Arpaio is currently being sued by the Department of Justice for multiple civil rights violations. He also admitted to using taxpayer resources to pursue an investigation into President Obama’s birth certificate, a widely debunked conspiracy theory.

Update

Teen Advocates USA

Not the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office

The Phoenix New Times disputes the Arizona Republic report and says the 6-year-old was taken into custody but never arrested. The Arizona Republic story has not been updated.
Despite what you may have heard -- and how Joe Arpaio-ish it sounds -- Maricopa County Sheriff's deputies did not arrest a 6-year-old on Friday.

MCSO spokesman Chris Hegstrom tells New Times deputies arrested 16 people during a human-smuggling operation, but the 6-year-old found in the van wasn't one of them.

"We're not arresting a 6-year-old," Hegstrom says.

 

Update

Arpaio confirms the arrest of the 6-year-old on CNN

______________________________________________________________________________________________


This, coming from the Sherriff who argued that he may need to supply his deputies with automatic weapons to protect them from the heinous attempted escape of undocumented suspects.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio says, “Once again the entry into Maricopa County from Mexico by illegal aliens does not seem to have subsided by evidence of numerous arrests made by my deputies. Aside from their determination to get away we will continue to make every effort to pursue and apprehend human smugglers as well as drug traffickers. More and more illegal aliens are attempting to escape which places my deputies in dangerous positions. In the near future I will be issuing automatic weapons for all my deputies”.

But the truth is we're not really just talking about crimes and abuse from their past -- these are some examples of the what the local CBS station found have already happened with members of this "Posse".

"Don't get me wrong, I've done some things in my life that I'm not proud of," said Michael Hoopingarner who admits to being arrested for cocaine possession in 1999. "It's stuff that may not even be on paper. It's stuff that I had to disclose when I joined." ... A posse applicant "could be disqualified" if they have a felony conviction, have used illegal drugs excessively, or sport a misdemeanor narcotics conviction, according to the sheriff's office posse application. Despite Hoopingarner's disclosure, he was hired on the posse.   And then there was Jacob Cutler. According to a Flagstaff police report, Cutler threw his girlfriend to the ground and choked her while trying to sexually assault her in 2008. When she didn't cooperate, he allegedly threatened to call police and said they would side with him, because he "has a badge." He was a member of Arpaio's posse at the time.
...
Kevin Ray Campos was arrested in 2007 outside a Scottsdale club for disorderly conduct. According to the police report, he spit on several bouncers and then hurled profanities at a Scottsdale police officer. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, according to court records, and was hired as a posse member a year later.

Anyone else see a potential problem brewing here? Vyan

Related:

• Armed MCSO posse patrols begin at Arizona schools
• Sheriff Arpaio sending armed posse to protect schools
• Volunteer posse member talks about Sheriff Arpaio's plan to patrol schools
• Armed posse officially starts school patrols

  

Michael Hoopingarner, Maricopa County posse member

 

Doug Clark, Maricopa County posse member

 

Sheriff's Sgt. Dave Trombi

Parents jailed as human remains discovered in missing baby case

View more videos at: http://nbcmiami.com.

By Hank Tester, Donna Rapado, Diana Gonzalez, Steve Litz and Juan Ortega, NBCMiami.com

Police investigating the disappearance of a Hallandale Beach, Fla., boy last seen about 18 months ago have found remains that are consistent with an infant's, authorities said Friday.

Police Chief Dwayne Flournoy said it was too early to say whether the remains are those of Dontrell Melvin, who was 5 months old when he went missing around July 2011.

Flournoy said the missing person case has turned into a homicide investigation. Police are arranging for a specialist to further examine the remains, which were found in the backyard of a house where the parents once lived, in the 100 block of Northwest First Avenue in Hallandale Beach.

"We are investigating a homicide," Flournoy said. "Are the parents suspects? Yes." 

The arrests of Calvin Melvin Jr., 27, and Brittney Sierra, 21, were announced by police earlier Friday, before the remains were found. The parents were held on child neglect charges after they allegedly admitted they failed to provide adequate care for the child, Flournoy said.

Each parent implicated the other in the child's disappearance, and police soon after went to the Hallandale Beach site to conduct a search with cadaver-sniffing dogs, Flournoy said.

“After lengthy interviews over the last 12 hours, they both have intimated that the child has been harmed in some way by each other,” Flournoy said. “So in essence, they are blaming each other as it relates to the child’s disappearance.”

Dontrell’s disappearance didn’t become known to authorities until Wednesday, when an investigator with the Broward County sheriff’s Child Protective Investigations Section spoke to Sierra regarding a child neglect case, according to Hallandale Beach police Maj. Thomas Honan.

Instead of finding three children at the home, the CPIS investigator saw that Dontrell was missing, Honan said.

Sierra then contacted Melvin, who told the investigator that the boy was with Melvin’s parents in Pompano Beach, Fla., police said.

But when the investigator went to verify the story, the boy’s grandparents said they hadn’t seen the boy in more than a year, Honan said. The investigator notified Hallandale Beach police, Honan said.

Though police questioned Melvin and Sierra, neither has said what happened to the boy. Sierra told police that if the boy disappeared and was harmed, then Melvin did it, Flournoy said. Melvin said the same thing about Sierra: If the child was harmed, Sierra did it, Flournoy added.

The police chief said that the parents individually described “an area of interest and concern” where police could search to determine whether “the child has been harmed.”

“The evidence has led us to believe that their conspiracy -- to hide the whereabouts of the child after the child was missing -- is apparent,” Flournoy said.

Before the remains were found Friday, Flournoy said an area had been identified by the parents.

By Friday afternoon, Hallandale Beach police cruisers were parked outside a home where residents said the parents used to live.

Several officers were seen there searching the grounds. Assisting were Broward Sheriff’s Office crime-scene specialists, as well as Miramar police cadaver dogs, Flournoy said.

The current tenant of the home, Natalie Garrido, said her Labrador retriever used to dig in the same spot where the remains were found Friday.

“He would always go back there to sniff in that area. And he would disappear there," she said. "I’m like what is he smelling back there? Nothing was ever sketchy to me.”

Melvin previously told police that he had dropped off Dontrell at a Miami Gardens fire station in 2011, but “he has since recanted that story,” Flournoy said. “He said that that’s not true.”

Thursday, Melvin provided a different account of events, police said. Before the boy vanished in 2011, Melvin said he had gotten into a verbal argument with Sierra and left the residence, Flournoy said.

Melvin said when he returned to the residence weeks later, Sierra told him the boy was living with her parents out of state, the police chief said.

Melvin said that when he pressed Sierra for answers at the time, Sierra asked for his forgiveness and told Melvin that if he loved her, he should no longer ask about the boy, Flournoy said.

Meanwhile, Sierra told police that Melvin had taken the boy away from the home in July 2011, police said.

After the disappearance, it was clear from questioning the parents that no family member had the child and that the parents knew of no one who had the child since either July 2011 or August 2011, police said.

Additional relatives of the boy likely didn’t investigate the boy’s disappearance because they were assured he was OK, police said.

“Perhaps the parents were able to spin stories to different segments of the family, that they believed the child was possibly being taken care of by another segment of the family,” Flournoy said. “But they never connected or talked.”

The police chief said relatives probably thought financial hardships had led to the boy being elsewhere. “The family believed that if someone else was providing for the child, that it was a better situation for the child to be in,” Flournoy said.

In October 2012, Melvin and Sierra had a child-custody issue that led Hallandale Beach police to notify the state Department of Children and Families.

The child-custody case stemmed from the mother making “the assertion that the father is keeping the child away from her and not allowing her to see the child,” Flournoy said.

Police at the time told DCF that the family was having a child-custody issue and said they may require their services.

DCF Secretary David Wilkins said in a statement on Friday that DCF had last year “worked with the officer at that time regarding the police department’s ongoing investigation into a custody dispute between the two parents arrested today.”

Wilkins said DCF couldn’t discuss specifics, but replied that “’missing child cases and situations where a crime is alleged to have occurred remain under the investigatory authority of local law enforcement.”

DCF is working “very closely” with Hallandale Beach police and the Sheriff’s Office in the inquiry, Wilkins added.

Dontrell’s two siblings now are in the custody of DCF, Wilkins said. “We are providing them with the safety and security they need,” he said.

The boy's parents were taken to a Broward County jail on Friday and were expected to make their first court appearances as early as Saturday, Flournoy said.

Father of missing Broward toddler arrested; police searching for body

 Calvin Melvin was arrested Friday morning, 18 months after his young son disappeared.

Posted on Friday, 01.11.13

By Carol Marbin Miller and Diana Moskovitz

cmarbin@MiamiHerald.com

Eighteen months after Broward toddler Dontrell Melvin went missing — an absence unreported by his mother, father, grandparents and neighbors for more than a year — officers have arrested the boy’s father.



Hallandale Beach Police Chief Dwayne Flourney confirmed the arrest of 27-year-old Calvin Melvin Friday morning, and said further details would be forthcoming.

CBS4 is reporting that police also arrested the boy’s mother, Britney Sierra, and that both have been charged with child neglect.

Friday morning, cadaver dogs were searching the area of 106 NW First Ave., about five blocks west of where the family lived, reportedly looking for a body.

Melvin, who was talking to police Thursday night about his son’s disappearance, initially told them he had left the boy at a North Miami-Dade fire station — legal under the state’s safe haven statute. Police don’t believe it. They want to know what happened to Dontrell. They fear he could be in danger — or worse.

The last time anyone saw Dontrell was July 2011 — when his father walked out of his Hallandale Beach home with Dontrell and came back without him.
Dontrell’s mom asked what happened to their son. Melvin told her that he gave the baby to his parents — the boy’s grandparents — in Pompano Beach so the boy could have a better life. The couple was having financial troubles.

Life went on without Dontrell.

The couple went on to have another child. The mother, who police did not identify Thursday, has a third child, apparently with a different father.
Members of one neighborhood family said they would see Melvin now and again, and would ask him: How’s Dontrell doing?

Melvin’s response: “Oh, he’s all right.” 

Months passed. The mother apparently accepted what Melvin told her — the boy was with his grandparents — and apparently didn’t delve too deeply into the situation..

“We can’t get over that fact either,” Hallandale Beach Maj. Thomas Honan said.

In October 2012, Hallandale Beach police caught a whiff of trouble. They learned that the mother was having “custody issues” with the Melvin — apparently a reference to the fact that the father would not tell her where Dontrell was.

The matter was referred to the state’s child abuse hotline. But the hotline did not pass the matter along to the Broward Sheriff’s Office, which investigates abuse and neglect in Broward under contract with the Department of Children & Families. The hotline “screened out” the call, meaning it determined no investigation was warranted.

More months passed. 

Dontrell returned to DCF’s radar Wednesday night after another call to the child abuse hotline. 

As a result of that call, which was not “screened out,” a child protective protection investigator went to the family’s Hallandale Beach home — finding two children instead of the expected three.

Melvin told the investigator that Dontrell was with the grandparents. The investigator went to the Pompano Beach home. The grandparents said they hadn’t seen the boy in more than a year.

The investigator went back to Hallandale Beach to talk to Melvin and get clarification.

Melvin was gone. Later he was located.

DCF declined to discuss the details of Dontrell’s disappearance and the agency’s actions.

Police said the rest of Dontrell’s family is cooperating.

“They want to find out what happened to the child,” Flournoy said.

Child missing a year — and no one looked

No one has seen little Dontrell Melvin since July 2011. But until this week no authorities were looking for him.

 

Dontrelle Melvin at two months. The child has been missing for 18 months and Hallandale Beach Police are now searching for the boy's father. Joe Rimkus Jr. / Miami Herald Staff

By Diana Moskovitz and Carol Marbin Miller

cmarbin@MiamiHerald.com

Dontrell Melvin went missing more than a year ago when he was just 5 months old, but until this week, no one was even looking for him.
Not his father, who took the infant out of the house in July 2011 — and returned home without him.
Not his mother, who waited more than a year before alerting authorities her son had vanished.
And not child protection administrators, who received a call to their abuse hotline last fall relaying concerns about Dontrell’s welfare. The call was “screened out,” sources told The Miami Herald, meaning it was deemed unworthy of investigation.
Everyone’s looking now. On Thursday, Hallandale Beach police made a public plea for help in locating Dontrell — after a visit to the home by child protection investigators found two children where there should have been three.

Hallandale Beach Police Chief Dwayne S. Flournoy holds up a photo of Calvin Melvin, who disappeared Wednesday night. Melvin's son has not been seen for 18 months. Joe Rimkus Jr. / Miami Herald Staff

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/10/3176643/hallandale-beach-police-seek-father.html#storylink=cpy

 

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/10/3176643/hallandale-beach-police-seek-father.html#storylink=cpy

 
Police released photos of Dontrell from July 2011, when he was less than half a year old. By now, he’d be nearly 2.
Police also showed photos of his father, Calvin Melvin Jr., 27. Officers had been in contact with Melvin, who agreed to meet with them only to duck the meeting.
By Thursday night, he had been located, and was at the police station.
Melvin is a “person of interest” in the child’s disappearance, said Police Chief Dwayne Flournoy.
“I believe this child is in danger,” Flournoy said.
The missing child saga shares similarities to the case of Rilya Wilson, who vanished from the home of her foster mother more than a decade ago but didn’t come to the attention of authorities for 18 months.
The difference that time: People thought she was OK because the case worker assigned to monitor Rilya’s wellbeing was doing nothing of the sort, while producing fake reports documenting phantom visits to the home. The foster mother is currently on trial for Rilya’s murder in Miami-Dade circuit court.
The last time anyone saw Dontrell was July 2011 — when his father walked out of his Hallandale Beach home with Dontrell and came back without him.
Dontrell’s mom asked what happened to their son. Melvin told her that he gave the baby to his parents in Pompano Beach so the boy could have a better life. The couple were having financial troubles.
Life went on without Dontrell.
The couple went on to have another child. The mother, who police did not identify Thursday, has a third child with a different father.
Members of one neighborhood family said they would see Melvin now and again, and would ask him: How’s Dontrell doing?
Melvin’s response: “Oh, he’s alright.”
Months passed. The mother apparently accepted what Melvin told her — the boy was with his grandparents — and apparently didn’t delve too deeply into the situation..
“We can’t get over that fact either,” Maj. Thomas Honan said.
In October 2012, Hallandale Beach police caught a whiff of trouble. They received a report that the mother was having “custody issues” with Melvin. That report may have been in conjunction with a service call to the home in which cops responded to a fight between the parents.
A report generated at that time referenced the missing child, stating: “It is not known if the child is alive.”
The Broward Sheriff’s Office, which investigates abuse and neglect in Broward under contract with the Department of Children & Families, didn’t learn any of that because the report was “screened out” by DCF’s child abuse hotline, even though Dontrell’s extended family had previously been under the supervision of Broward’s privately run child welfare agency, ChildNet.
More months passed.
Dontrell returned to DCF’s radar Wednesday night after another call came into the child abuse hotline. As a result of that call, which was not “screened out,” a child protective investigator went to the family’s Hallandale Beach home — finding the two children instead of the expected three.
Melvin told the investigator that Dontrell was with his parents — the boy’s grandparents — in Pompano Beach. The investigator went to the Pompano Beach home of the grandparents. They said they hadn’t seen the boy in more than a year.
The investigator went back to Hallandale Beach to talk to Melvin.
Melvin was gone.
DCF declined to discuss the details of Dontrell’s disappearance and the agency’s actions.
Police said the rest of Dontrell’s family is cooperating.
“They want to find out what happened to the child,” Flournoy said.
Police are asking anyone who knows anything of Dontrell’s whereabouts to call 954-457-1400 or Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/10/3176643/hallandale-beach-police-seek-father.html#emlnl=Five_Minute_Herald#storylink=cpy