Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who announced last week that his anti-illegal immigration posse had been joined by Lou Ferrigno of “Hulk” fame and actor Steven Seagal, told TPM that federal and local investigations of him and his office haven’t hampered his work.
“A lot of people don’t like me enforcing immigration laws or going after corruption,” Arpaio told me.
“We’ve not stopping. For three years we’ve been enforcing the state and federal laws on immigration successfully,” Arpaio said.
“I keep doing my job, it doesn’t affect me at all,” Arpaio said. “They’re just allegations.”
Arpaio also said that he didn’t see any problems with illegal voters casting ballots in Maricopa County during the election.
Neither Ferrigno nor Seagal have actually done any work in the county thus far, but he expects them to, said Arpaio.
Arpaio said that he’s continuing to face protesters at his events, including during the swearing in ceremony last week. “I guess you call it freedom of speech, right?” Arpaio said.
Arpaio, however, said he doesn’t know much about the 527 group that was formed to defend him.
Ryan J. Reilly
Ryan J. Reilly is a D.C.-based reporter for TPM. Prior to joining TPM, he worked for a news website covering the Justice Department and was a researcher for Bloomberg News. His email address is ryan(at)talkingpointsmemo.com.
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