Elderly diabetic Latino held in Arpaio's jail 6 months for using fake SSN. He was innocent.

Beginning in 2005, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio was able to fortify his police state thanks in part to the handiwork of County Attorney Andrew Thomas, who provided the sheriff legal cover for his unconstitutional tactics. When Thomas resigned in 2010, and then was disbarred from practicing law for helping to carry out Arpaio's political vendettas, most citizens of the county were sure his replacement couldn't be nearly as bigoted and power-mad.

Enter Bill Montgomery, whose campaign for County Attorney last year received $500,000 from Joe Arpaio's hefty war chest. Any thoughts about who Montgomery owes allegiance to?

A week ago Stephen Lemons at New Times published "Same as the Old Boss," which documents how Montgomery is continuing Thomas's anti-immigrant policies. Lemons writes of Luz Ruiz Rascon, who was nabbed in one of Sheriff Arpaio's immigration sweeps at a GNC warehouse. The young mother of two children, one suffering from leukemia, she's been locked away in Arpaio's intolerable gulag for six months'not allowed bail by County Attorney Montgomery because he considers her a felon and flight risk. Her crime was victimless, since the Social Security Number (SSN) she used when applying for the job at GNC 11 years ago belongs to no one, and Montgomery could charge her with a misdemeanor, which would make her bondable. But he won't, and Luz Ruiz Rascon is not alone, writes Lemons:

But as in hundreds of such cases prosecuted here every year, the County Attorney's Office charges immigrants with class-four or even class-three felonies, forcing on them an unenviable choice: plead guilty to a felony charge that probably will result in deportation when they are turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or wait for months for trial in Sheriff Joe Arpaio's jails.

Rafael Lavallade Gonzalez, who also began working at the GNC warehouse 11 years ago, was caught in the same raid and, like Rascon, he was denied bail. Because he refused to plead guilty and face deportation, Gonzalez also waited in Arpaio's jail for six months before his case recently came to trial. A proud elderly man who has raised two successful children with his wife, Gonzalez took the stand last week during his 7-day trial:

Thin and frail, with a lion's mane of white hair and dark-rimmed glasses, Gonzalez, a 70-year-old diabetic, stood charged with four counts related to forgery and using the identity of another for employment. New Times

Gonzalez's story and so much more over the bump.