Why Phoenix is an Unsafe Place by Kathleen Kern

MCUSA Convention Prayer Walk, July 5 2013 Photo by Tim Nafziger

Mennonites poured into the streets for a prayer walk on the final day of convention in Phoenix. The route took us right past the courts and the prisons and the office of Joe Arpaio, a sheriff notorious for racist practices and horrible jail conditions. Kathy Kern provides some historical perspective on why Latino Mennonites legitimately fear Phoenix…

In May, United States District Court Judge, G. Murray Snow, an appointee of the George W. Bush administration, handed down a 142-page ruling that concluded Maricopa County, Arizona Sherriff Joe Arpaio’s policy of detaining people who looked Latino violated the Fourth and Fourteenth amendments to the U.S. Constitution.  In his ruling, Judge Snow noted that Arpaio routinely violated federal law and the constitutional rights of Latinos in his County—of which Phoenix is the county seat—and blatantly violated the terms of a prior court order that the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) stop engaging in immigration-related enforcement operations.