PHOENIX (AP) — Nearly three years after he was voted out of office, the former metro Phoenix sheriff pardoned by President Donald Trump on a conviction related to rounding up immigrants in the country illegally is going after his old job.
Republican Joe Arpaio announced his 2020 campaign for Maricopa County sheriff Sunday on the anniversary of his pardon in 2017 from Trump on the misdemeanor contempt of court conviction for disobeying an order to stop the immigration patrols.
Arpaio is 87 and spent 24 years as sheriff. In a statement, he vowed to enforce laws associated with the U.S.-Mexico border crimes and laws dealing with migrants coming into the country illegally. He also wants to reopen the outdoor tent jail complex he started that was closed by his successor, Democrat Paul Penzone.
Arpaio lost to Penzone in 2016. After the six-term sheriff’s defeat, he was convicted for his acknowledged disobedience of a judge’s 2011 order that barred his traffic patrols targeting immigrants. Arpaio was accused of prolonging the patrols for 17 months to boost his successful 2012 re-election campaign.
The pardon spared Arpaio — an early supporter of Trump’s presidential campaign — a possible jail sentence.