President Barack Obama has set the tone for illegal immigration to become an acceptable way of life in the United States, according to Maricopa County (Ariz.) Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who appeared Tuesday on "America’s Forum" on
Newsmax TV.
"There's a lot of politics involved, you know that," Arpaio said. "Some economic problem, intelligence problem, it's a leadership problem. The president sets the tempo. He's not setting too good of a tempo right now when we talk about crime and illegal immigration so it starts from the top, but what can we do about it right now? I don't know."
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Illegal immigration has a direct impact on the drug trade in the United States, he said, noting that 80 percent of the
drug seizures in Maricopa County, particularly large quantities of marijuana, are transported by illegal immigrants.
"I said years ago, there's a connection between illegal immigration, the coyotes and the drug traffickers, but we have to start cracking down on the drug problem," Arpaio said.
"Keeps coming across from Mexico and once again, the president should start talking about it. At least take some trips to Mexico and meet with the president, have a few beers or whatever or have the president come here, got to get on the same track. They are on the same track, the president of Mexico and the president of the United States somewhat agree on the policies so we should take away the money from Mexico, their foreign aid until they get with it and do something about both issues."
Sanctuary city designations, which typically prohibit municipalities from enforcing federal immigration laws by not allowing police to ask about a person’s immigration status "have just about destroyed our laws and it's very difficult to continue to operate and arrest illegal aliens," according to Arpaio. "We have the handcuffs put on us, so that's sad."
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He characterized a draft solicitation by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services looking for a contract vendor to
produce 34 million blank green cards, which would allow immigrants to live and work in the country, as "get out of jail free pass cards."
Obama is expected to issue an executive order after the November midterms to grant legal status to millions of illegal immigrants already in the country.
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