Sheriff Joe Arpaio stood up straight, and essentially told the Department of Homeland Security to stuff it.

‘Toughest sheriff’ vows face-off with feds over illegals

The man who likes to call himself “America’s toughest sheriff,” Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz., is planning a Friday showdown with the feds.

The sheriff has announced he will defy the U.S. Department of Homeland Security by doing a street sweep for illegal immigrants one day after the expiration of the agreement that has permitted him to conduct such operations for the past three years. The sheriff has said he expects the deal not to be extended, though federal officials have remained publicly noncommittal.

Homeland Security apparently sniffed the prevailing wind, and made their decision:

Law agencies make new pact on illegal deportation

Department of Homeland Security officials have signed new agreements authorizing nearly 70 state and local law enforcement agencies, including a contentious Arizona sheriff, to help arrest and deport illegal immigrants charged with violent or criminal acts.

Under the new agreements, Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz., who has come under fire for his immigration sweeps, will continue to work with federal authorities when illegal immigrants are booked into his jail. But Sheriff Arpaio’s office will not be given the power to arrest such people, as it previously had, federal officials said.

Sheriff Joe’s response?…business as usual:

As the new agreements were announced, Sheriff Arpaio launched a crime and immigration sweep Friday in northwestern metro Phoenix, according to the Associated Press.

The sheriff told the AP that he can still arrest immigrants under a state smuggling law and a federal law that gives all local police agencies more limited power to detain suspected illegal immigrants.

“It doesn’t bother me, because we are going to do the same thing,” Sheriff Arpaio said. “I am the elected sheriff. I don’t take orders from the federal government.”

That’s what the Chief considers a practical lesson to DHS in applied federalism.