“After President Trump’s sickeningly inadequate response to the events in Charlottesville, his decision to pardon a man who racially profiled Latinos is deplorable. Sheriff Arpaio was convicted for continuing anti-immigrant traffic patrols for over a year after a federal court ordered him to stop. This pardon undermines the authority of our independent federal court system. Not only is Trump supporting an individual who aggressively and unconstitutionally targeted immigrant communities, he is encouraging bigotry and hate among the most extreme members of his base.
“Trump is also flagrantly abusing his pardon power to help a political ally, making it clear that he is much more concerned with protecting his allies than the communities of color they hurt. Yet again, Trump has proven he is willing to condone racism with this intentional message to extremists that they have a supporter in the White House.”
People For the American Way is a progressive advocacy organization founded to fight right-wing extremism and defend constitutional values including free expression, religious liberty, equal justice under the law, and the right to meaningfully participate in our democracy.
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