It’s an interview that Jorge Ramos has been teasing for months, but the anchor’s interview with Maricopa County’s Sheriff Joe Arpaio finally aired last weekend, ending the inaugural week of ABC News-Univision’s new joint network, Fusion.
Heated and confrontational at times, Arpaio during his interview with Ramos maintained that his department does not “go around locking people up because of the color of their skin.”
A federal judge, of course, recently disagreed, ruling that Arpaio’s deputies routinely do abuse their police powers and engage in racial profiling; that reason is why the department (barring a successful appeal) must now report to a court-appointed monitor for at least the next three years.
Ramos also talked about the moral cost of deportations with Arpaio, bringing up the story of Catherine, a nine-year-old girl whose parents were arrested by Arpaio during a 2009 car wash raid. Ramos asked Arpaio if he understood that he is seen as a “monster” because he separates immigrant families, but Arpaio repeatedly answered the question obliviously.
“Problem is, I can’t get to the young kids to educate them on what we really do,” Arpaio said. “If I only had a chance to talk to the groups, I would alleviate that problem in two minutes.”
Watch the interview below:
