Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio Endorses ?Donald Trump? For President

Donald Trump, real estate mogul and current Republican presidential candidate, has revealed on Tuesday that he’s just received an endorsement from Joe Arpaio, the controversial sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona. According to Arpaio, endorsing Trump was a “no brainer,” reports the Washington Post.

“I have fought on the front lines to prevent illegal immigration,” Sheriff Joe Arpaio said in a statement released by the campaign. “I know Donald Trump will stand with me and countless Americans to secure our border. I am proud to support him as the best candidate for president of the United States of America.”

Joseph Michael “Joe” Arpaio is infamous for his investigation of President Obama’s birth certificate, claiming it was forged, as well as his association with Arizona’s SB1070 anti-illegal immigrant law in 2010. The law allowed local Arizona authorities the freedom to stop and search any individual they think may be an undocumented immigrant, and Sheriff Arpaio has been found guilty of racially profiling the Hispanic community more than once. Anti-immigration supporters, as well as those who support the controversial Maricopa County sheriff, will be happy to hear Arpaio’s endorsement of Donald Trump, just as the billionaire mogul himself was appreciative for his support. Sheriff Arpaio’s strong anti-immigration stance has resonated with many conservative Americans across the nation.

“I have great respect for Sheriff Arpaio,” Trump said in a statement. “We must restore law and order on the border and respect the men and women of our police forces. I thank him for his support of my policies and candidacy for president.”

According to CBS News, Sheriff Joe Arpaio was in Iowa to attend a Trump rally in Marshalltown, although whether or not this visit was specifically tied to the endorsement is unknown. In December, 2015, in Mesa, Arizona, Arpaio was with Donald Trump as he prepared to give a speech to thousands of his supporters. Pablo Manriquez, hispanic media director at the Democratic National Committee, says that Trump is simply creating more tension and division among Americans by accepting Arpaio’s endorsement, specifically in a city with one of the highest Latino populations in Iowa.

“Donald Trump is a leader,” Joe says. “He produces results and is ready to get tough in order to protect American jobs and families. I have fought on the front lines to prevent illegal immigration.”

Joe Arpaio thinks of himself as “America’s Toughest Sheriff,” and with a reputation like his, he may be right. Monitors have been appointed to oversee his office operations, with his jails being ruled as unconstitutional two times. Maricopa County taxpayers have spent up to $142 million in settlements and legal expenses in late 2015, due to his unlawful and discriminatory conduct.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s investigation of Obama’s birth certificate was, according to the Arizona Democratic Party, nothing more than a distraction from the failures of his own agency. The problems included hundreds of sex crimes that the sheriff did not address within a three-year period. Those within Arpaio’s office claim that the suspicion of Obama’s birth certificate was warranted, with the chief investigator Mike Zullo claiming that the birth certificate that was released by the White House in 2011 was completely fake.

“Considering the fact that Hawaii appears to be very lax in its distribution of birth certificates, it is possible, though certainly not proven, that President Obama, through the actions of others, may have benefited by the ease with which one can obtain a birth certificate proving U.S. citizenship,” Zullo said. Arpaio also claimed that Obama’s Selective Service registration form was fake and was insulted by the notion that the information being given was questionable.

“That’s an insult,” said Arpaio. “Look at the evidence and forget who’s in bed with who. Talk about the evidence.”

[Photo by Joshua Lott/Getty Images]