Arpaio's America begins with Arizona's passage of the Human Smuggling Law, which was meant to target the 'ring leaders' responsible for transporting immigrants across the US/Mexico border. Sheriff Arpaio was the one county sheriff in all of Arizona who interpreted that law to arrest the immigrants who were actually being transported into the country, thus dramatically expanding the scope of the law. The film then tracks how Sheriff Arpaio used the law to conduct massive 'crime suppression' operations that specifically targeted day laborers and immigrants without proper documentation in and around the Phoenix area. The film also examines the agreement Sheriff Arpaio made with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) under its 287(g) program. The agreement allowed Sheriff Arpaio to enforce federal immigration law. When the Obama Administration took over in early 2009, the federal government revoked that agreement because of multiple allegations of racial profiling and abuse of power. The film concludes with a look at how Sheriff Arpaio's 'crime suppression' operations have impacted his budget and his ability to effectively carry out other portions of his law enforcement duties. The film features Sheriff Arpaio, as well as Russell Pearce (author of Arizona's recent immigration law), Mary Rose Wilcox (Maricopa County Supervisor), and George Gascon (San Francisco Police Chief and former Police Chief of Mesa, Arizona).

Director: Jodi Wu

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