House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) on Saturday criticized President Donald Trump’s decision to pardon former Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who had been convicted of ignoring a judge’s order to stop racially profiling Latinos based on the suspicion they were undocumented immigrants.
“The speaker does not agree with the decision,” Ryan’s spokesperson, Doug Andres, told the Wall Street Journal. “Law-enforcement officials have a special responsibility to respect the rights of everyone in the United States. We should not allow anyone to believe that responsibility is diminished by this pardon.”
Ryan isn’t the only Republican to criticize Trump’s move: Both of Arizona’s senators did so on Friday, with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) saying it “undermines his claim for the respect of rule of law as Mr. Arpaio has shown no remorse for his actions.”
Still, much of Trump’s right-wing nationalist base endorsed the move. Kelli Ward, who is challenging the state’s junior senator, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), for his sat in the 2018 Republican Senate primary, cheered Trump’s pardon.
Thank you, @realDonaldTrump so glad you #pardoned @RealSheriffJoe – a patriot who did the job the Feds refused to do #StopIllegalImmigration pic.twitter.com/RlNm0Hr3b9
— Dr. Kelli Ward (@kelliwardaz) August 26, 2017
Up until he lost a bid for reelection in November 2016, Arpaio was known nationwide for his extremely harsh detention tactics, especially those aimed at undocumented immigrants. For years, he maintained a facility nicknamed “Tent City” that housed hundreds of inmates outdoors, in the intense Arizona heat. Documentary filmmakers once caught him on camera calling it a “concentration camp.”
