It looks like Arizona’s own Sheriff Joe Arpaio has a long-lost brother living in North Carolina.
Alamance County, North Carolina Sheriff Terry S. Johnson has some explaining to do to the Department of Justice, his constituents, and possibly the court.
For more than a year, the Department of Justice has been documenting evidence that a North Carolina county sheriff’s department routinely and visciously discriminates against Latinos, whom officers refers to as “taco eaters.” This week, a legal filing reveals that Alamance County Sheriff Terry S. Johnson sent “his subordinates a video game premised on shooting Mexican children, pregnant women, and other ‘wetbacks’” as they attempt to cross the border.
As ThinkProgress reports, the Department of Justice found that Sheriff Johnson explicitly told his officers to “go get them Mexicans” whom his officers referred to as “taco eaters” and to “lock up any damn Mexicans that you can.”
Sheriff Johnson also reportedly singled out one of his employees for investigation because her last name seemed Latino.
I’m not someone who would tell you not to trust the police, but I do understand the grievances of those who do not trust them. It’s easier to understand when you’ve personally dealt with corrupt law enforcement.
And Latinos in Alamance County apparently have every reason to be suspicious. According to the Department of Justice, Latinos in the area are “250 percent more likely to receive a citation, 50 percent more likely to face arrest, and 20 percent more likely to be searched” than others.
Say, wouldn’t it be great if Congress would confirm Debo Adegbile to head the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division? This is why the department has a civil rights division.