The Rt. Rev. Kirk Stevan Smith, Bishop of Arizona, together with seven other religious leaders in the Phoenix area, have questioned the wisdom, morality and legality of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his high-profile crime sweeps that target illegal immigrants.
 
A letter from the clergy leaders was released following two recent incidents in which law enforcement officials working alongside volunteer “posse” members disrupted worship services. Phoenix Mayor Joe Gordon criticized Sheriff Arpaio after a Roman Catholic confirmation service at a church in a largely Hispanic neighborhood was disrupted on April 6.
 
On Good Friday, Bishop Smith received a call from the priest at a Spanish-speaking church in Phoenix, where deputies and volunteers had set up another “Crime Suppression Unit” similar to one located near the Roman Catholic church. Law enforcement officials and volunteers in the units seal off entire neighborhoods. According to Greta Huls, communications officer for the diocese, “brown-skinned” motorists attempting to enter or exit the targeted area are stopped for minor infractions and identification is demanded.
 
In his weekly e-mail message to the diocese on April 12, Bishop Smith described how he drove to the church on Good Friday and tried to explain to one of the sheriff’s deputies that not only were his men frightening law-abiding citizens, but they were in fact violating if not the letter, then at least the spirit of the U.S. Constitution by preventing people from going to church.
 
“It’s called freedom of religion,” he said. “Suffice it to say, the deputy, although polite, was not interested. He had his orders.”
 
Ms. Huls said the diocese is aware of at least one Hispanic U.S. citizen who has stopped attending an Episcopal church because of his fear of additional harassment.
 
“Even if the sheriff has legal authority to order these sweeps, we question his judgment in orchestrating them, the message that they send to our community, and the fear and anger that they generate in the targeted neighborhoods,” the letter said in part. “These sweeps have evoked a ‘police state’ atmosphere, involved detainment on the basis of racial profile, and dehumanization of innocent people, many of whom are legal residents of the United States.”
 
In addition to Bishop Smith, the letter was signed by the local leaders of the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church USA, the executive director of the Arizona Ecumenical Council, the Arizona Chapter of the American Jewish Committee and the Board of Rabbis of Greater Phoenix.
 
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