Joe Arpaio Quotes

There's a lot of other [than Donald Trump] people that say things you may call insulting, but no one seems to care about that.

I'm not interested in Vice President. I'm hanging around Arizona. I'm running again for Sheriff.

I love the president Donald Trump. He supports law enforcement and I'm very humbled. I said publicly, recently, pardon or no pardon, I will be with him until the end.

A ‘liberal paradise’ would be a place where everybody has guaranteed employment, free comprehensive health care, free education, free food, free housing, free clothing, free utilities and only law enforcement personnel have guns. And, believe it or not, such a liberal utopia does indeed exist. ... It’s called prison.

I don't think Donald Trump is afraid of journalists. If he was, he wouldn't be on the TV every hour on the hour.

In the old days when I was enforcing illegal immigration laws, when I had the authority from the 287G, everybody accused me that 100,000 people from foreign countries left town. They either went back to where they came from or whatever. So if this little old sheriff can cause, if you want to believe it, many, many people leaving and going back to their country, why can't you do that nationwide?

I used to have trust with reporters. Give them scoops. Those were the old days. It's very strange, when you give a story and it doesn't come out the right way.

I'm kind of an old-fashioned guy.

I can get along great with the Hispanics. In fact, I sure would like to meet them, even the politicians, maybe in the back room or whatever, have a couple of beers and try to explain. But they need to understand that I enforce the laws. I want to listen to them and hear their problems. I want them to tell me what their problems are.

It doesn't matter whether you're black, Hispanic, white. They're all in the same boat.

Maybe today you could have shot anybody and get away with it. So there's many times, I could have killed people. Legally, I could have killed many people, especially working undercover.

If you mention what he said about rapists from Mexico, there are some that come over - I can prove that with how many I have in the jail system - but I don't think Donald Trump meant that everybody coming over are rapists. Come on, he knows that and I know that.

I even used to stop vehicles going through stop signs, even though I was walking.

I'm not a computer guy. I have my Smith Corona. I would know nothing about computers.

You make deals in business and in government if you're smart.

You know why you have to give [Donald] Trump credit, whether you don't like him or not? He opened the door.Now there's a lot of talk about immigration. That's good. Nobody wanted to talk about it.

Not that I ever did anything wrong. I was just aggressive. That's the way I am in my life.

The young people when I go to McDonald's, the Hispanic clerks will come by, 'Sheriff, can we have a picture?' over and over again. At least they want a picture with me.

Look at Israel. Israel is a great country for examples on how to do security.

I think [ immigration] is still is a problem, whether it's 11 million or 2 million. Why is it - why have the situation decreased? Are we going to say because of the crackdown or are we going to say that the jobs are not here?

I don't care where [Ted] Cruz comes from. I don't care where the President comes from. Day one, I opened an investigation on a fraudulent government Hawaii document, period, on a birth certificate, so if you can say Cruz has fake documents, okay.

I believe Donald Trump is the best guy for president; and I'm not going to shy away and I take the risk. I could just stay home and don't talk about any candidate.

Once I can talk to people, I switch them over on my side.

I still think people like to hear from someone's heart and how they really feel than the old political rhetoric trying to not say the wrong thing because how would it look, would they get votes, lose votes.

I don't look at me taking risks or if that's going to affect me politically.

I think it doesn't matter what color you are. Everybody is getting the - getting the stick, and I'm sure Trump feels the same way.

I really love how Israel operates, and I love the Jewish people.

I get a lot of calls from families and people who have served time and they say, 'Thank you, Sheriff. I hate the tents.' That's music to my ears.

I have compassion, I've told you people that over and over again. Enforcing the law overrides my compassion.

You go to London, you see a TV set in every cell and the sign up that all the officers must treat prisoners with dignity. What about your dedicated soldiers that have helped fight in Afghanistan and Iraq? They're living in tents and our soldiers are living in tents. So it's OK for soldiers to live in tents, in hot tents, but it's wrong for inmates?

I'm an equal-opportunity law-enforcement guy - I lock everybody up.

I don't have all these advisers, political advisers. I don't even talk to them because I'm not a slave to a campaign manager, and Trump isn't either.

Let [Ted] Cruz - let the people go to the courts and see if he's here legitimately. I don't know. I'm not going to get into that.

If I'm hated, okay. I don't believe that.

I just came back from - with Trump when I endorsed him in Iowa, in Marshalltown, a little town - 27,000 - have a lot of Hispanics working there from Mexico in a private business, so they're still here. I'm not saying they're here illegally but they still come and they work, make money for their families, send the money back to Mexico or whatever, so it's a big problem.

But believe me, there's a lot I'd like to say - but I don't think the time is right now.

Many times, when you go to arrest somebody, they pull their gun, and here I am, a federal agent, telling them to drop their gun. But the gun is like that. I give them a split second to drop it, and they drop it. I could have shot them - who is going to complain?

It takes a lot of work to do this every day, every day, but I feel, as a sheriff, I should get to know my people. I serve them. They don't serve me. I serve them. They're my bosses, and the more people I can see and talk to, I love it.

When you see a white guy at three in the morning on your beat in an alley, you kind of - "What's this guy doing here?"

I don't bow down to the federal government.

I'd feel more comfortable talking to the blacks, or Hispanics, or the poor areas. I feel more at home, believe it or not.

Some people call me a publicity hound.

I just can't surrender. I can't start something and then surrender because of political reasons. I just don't do that, and that goes back to me, why I keep running when I should probably take it easy, even though I have no hobbies, and enjoy the rest of my life.

I love people that come from another country. I love talking to them.

We do have freedom of speech, but if you say the wrong word, it looks like it makes headlines. So everybody has to be very careful.

I take risks, if you want to call it a risk. All the people running for president, last time, you know, they all came to visit me or meet me. They all wanted my endorsement and I endorsed [Rick] Perry at that time. He wasn't that well-liked either, but you have to do what you have to do.

I don't throw people under the bus. When I stick by a guy - I may not agree with him all the time, but I sure don't throw him under the bus.

I am the constitutionally and legitimately elected sheriff, and I absolutely refuse to surrender my responsibility to the federal government.