Top 86 Quotes & Sayings by Joe Arpaio

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

I don't use e-mail or u-mail or whatever it's called.

I'm the elected sheriff, and I'm going to keep doing what the Constitution says I can do.

I would have liked to see where we would have the authority to arrest illegal aliens just by being here illegally and book them into our jails, but that's not going to happen.

Donald Trump is a leader. He produces results and is ready to get tough in order to protect American jobs and families.

But hey, controversy - well, it hasn't hurt me in 50 years.

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

Everything I did in the jails - chain gangs, everything - I haven't changed the policy. I did it, I stand by it, and I'm not going to change.

This is the sheriff you're talking about, with a gun and badge that enforces the law. Nothing is going to stop me from cracking down on illegal immigration as long as the laws are there.

Every two years for Congress, four years for President, illegal immigration comes out as a political issue.

I needed a place to put the dogs. The prisoners ruined the jail, so I put the prisoners in the tents and I had a nice place to put the dogs. We treat the cats nice too, and horses. I have the inmates take care of the animals. It's therapy too, you see.

I was a cop in the Las Vegas Police Department in 1957. I was very young when I joined. But then I became a federal narcotics agent after that, in Vegas, and that propelled me into my future to fight the drug traffickers.

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 was stationed in Turkey, Mexico City, South America, Texas, Arizona, so I do know where the Mexican-U.S. border is.

We learn by our problems. We correct our deficiencies if there are any.

I want to go to Mexico. I've been stonewalled, so far, by federal officials. I want to go to Mexico, and I want to meet with the top Mexican officials. I want to tell them my past experience and what I can do here as Sheriff to help them get better intelligence and communications on the drug thing, not the illegal immigration thing.

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

I'm working on Leno. He's from my home state, Massachusetts. And my home country, Italy. I said, 'Hey, Jay, why don't you have me on your show? Afraid I'll be funnier than you?'

Some people call me a publicity hound.

I'm kind of an old-fashioned guy.

I will continue to enforce all the laws, including illegal immigration. Nothing changes.

I don't bow down to the federal government.

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.

When we go to court, they are going to have to come up with all the evidence where they are accusing me and my dedicated deputies of racial profiling. It's always easy to throw the race card in there and that's what they're doing in Washington today, that they're concerned about racial profiling.

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.

If a nation's security is only as strong as its weakest link, then America may be in serious trouble. Hawaii may be our weakest link and could have a serious impact on our nation's immigration policy.

I've had four presidential candidates visit me in the tents, and they all lost. I tried to get Hillary down here, but she's too smart. She won't come to the tents.

I'm elected. I don't report to any politician. I report to the people. If I had to report to any politician, I'd quit tomorrow. I'm not tall, dark and handsome. They don't vote for me because I look like a movie star. I can't get that vote. People keep voting for me because they like what I do.

So you don't speak English, you have no ID, you can't tell where you're from... that's suspicion, it's lower than probable cause. And then we have a right to call immigration and check you out.

This is a great country. You're trying to tell me we can't keep people from coming into our country if we really had the desire to do it? I don't buy it.

I would hope to get together with the Latino community, if I could ever have them talk to me without screaming and threatening me. So I hope to get together with the community and try to explain what we do, so that's going to be one of my missions coming up.

I have fought on the front lines to prevent illegal immigration. I know Donald Trump will stand with me and countless Americans to secure our border.

The Mexicans bowed down when we talked about removing their foreign aid, and then they began cooperating with our country.

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.

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.

Everything I do in my life is very aggressive.

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 roam the streets all the time. You'll be shocked. I'm shocked, everybody that comes up to me, "Oh, thank you, Sheriff. You're supporting Trump." I don't care who they are. They kind of whisper sometimes.

If they [mexicans] cross the border, I think, and they are violating the law, then that word criminal does connect with that violation, so if they're violating the law, I guess you can call them criminals. We call everybody else criminals that violate the law.

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.

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?"

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

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.

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.

Now everybody is mafia. You got the Russian mafia, the Mexican mafia. Everybody is mafia these days.

If you come across illegal aliens committing crimes, other crimes, you deport them.

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

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.

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?

This is the sheriff you’re talking about, with a gun and badge that enforces the law. Nothing is going to stop me from cracking down on illegal immigration as long as the laws are there.

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

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?

I'd rather report to four million people as the elected Sheriff than some governor or president, so I like reporting to the people.

The day I leave, you won't know how to pronounce my name. You could care less about me, and I should be dead and buried because there's not one media that will come and remember who Joe Arpaio is. That's the way it is in politics.

I don't rely on the media. I usually average one speech a day for 25 years. People know me because I'm out there.

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

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 was taught to work hard and to be honest, and that's what I try to do, so that's it.

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.