An ex-inmate under former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio wrote President Trump’s pardon made a “nightmare come true.”
Francisco Chairez, who moved from Mexico to Arizona at age 14, said he was convicted for drunk driving and subsequently served time in “one of Arpaio’s jails.” Chairez wrote for the Washington Post on Saturday that living in the jail was a painful and abusive experience.
Trump pardoned on Friday the former sheriff who violated a federal judge’s orders to stop patrols targeting illegal immigrants.
“When I heard Friday that President Trump had decided to pardon Arpaio, I was disgusted, dispirited, and disappointed in the American political system,” Chairez wrote for the Post. “I am not ashamed of what I did: I committed a crime, and I paid my dues.
“How ironic it is, that the immigrant who committed a minor criminal act has to live with a conviction on his record for the rest of his life, while a criminal like Arpaio gets to walk away unscathed for his crimes, which are greater in scale and severity.”
Chairez added, “I think that Trump wants us to be divided, specifically by race. Arpaio’s pardon is proof of that.”
Chairez said he experienced unrepentant evil firsthand but that it was time for his community to “keep fighting.”
