Joe Arpaio, the sheriff of Maricopa County, Ariz., said Tuesday that he has more cash on hand for his local re-election campaign than Donald Trump has for his presidential race.
Arpaio, who has been an outspoken critic of the administration’s handling of illegal immigration, said during an appearance on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” that he has $10 million in the bank due to the “heat” he has taken for his controversial views. Trump has roughly $1.3 million cash on hand, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Arpaio said most politicians “don’t even know where Mexico is” and praised Trump for bringing the dark side of illegal immigration into the national conversation.
“How many times has Hillary been to Mexico?” Arpaio asked.
(Clinton visited Mexico five times during her tenure as secretary of state.)
Arpaio described his experience working the “black beat” as a police officer in the 1950s, arguing he never encountered the racial tensions that law enforcement agents face today.
“[I] arrested a lot of people, but I never had the racial connotation,” Arpaio said. “I never had any shootings, and that was a tough beat.”
The Arizona delegate to the Republican convention said police officers today face a high level of scrutiny due to the rise of social media and cell phone cameras.
“You go to the toilet, they film you,” Arpaio said of law enforcement agents. “There’s a war on cops, and unfortunately it’s going to continue with the way things are going.”
