JOE ARPAIO

I'm an equal-opportunity law-enforcement guy - I lock everybody up.

I am the constitutionally and legitimately elected sheriff, and I absolutely refuse to surrender my responsibility to the federal government.

So you don't speak English, you have no ID, you can't tell where you're from... that's suspicion, it's lower than probable cause. And then we have a right to call immigration and check you out.

I used to have trust with reporters. Give them scoops. Those were the old days. It's very strange, when you give a story and it doesn't come out the right way.

I'm working on Leno. He's from my home state, Massachusetts. And my home country, Italy. I said, 'Hey, Jay, why don't you have me on your show? Afraid I'll be funnier than you?'

I don't bow down to the federal government.

Some people call me a publicity hound.

But hey, controversy - well, it hasn't hurt me in 50 years.

I would hope to get together with the Latino community, if I could ever have them talk to me without screaming and threatening me. So I hope to get together with the community and try to explain what we do, so that's going to be one of my missions coming up.

I'm elected. I don't report to any politician. I report to the people. If I had to report to any politician, I'd quit tomorrow. I'm not tall, dark and handsome. They don't vote for me because I look like a movie star. I can't get that vote. People keep voting for me because they like what I do.

I get a lot of calls from families and people who have served time and they say, 'Thank you, Sheriff. I hate the tents.' That's music to my ears.

We learn by our problems. We correct our deficiencies if there are any.

Everything I did in the jails - chain gangs, everything - I haven't changed the policy. I did it, I stand by it, and I'm not going to change.

I have compassion, I've told you people that over and over again. Enforcing the law overrides my compassion.

I don't use e-mail or u-mail or whatever it's called.

If a nation's security is only as strong as its weakest link, then America may be in serious trouble. Hawaii may be our weakest link and could have a serious impact on our nation's immigration policy.

I will continue to enforce all the laws, including illegal immigration. Nothing changes.

I'm kind of an old-fashioned guy.

This is the sheriff you're talking about, with a gun and badge that enforces the law. Nothing is going to stop me from cracking down on illegal immigration as long as the laws are there.

I would have liked to see where we would have the authority to arrest illegal aliens just by being here illegally and book them into our jails, but that's not going to happen.

I needed a place to put the dogs. The prisoners ruined the jail, so I put the prisoners in the tents and I had a nice place to put the dogs. We treat the cats nice too, and horses. I have the inmates take care of the animals. It's therapy too, you see.

When we go to court, they are going to have to come up with all the evidence where they are accusing me and my dedicated deputies of racial profiling. It's always easy to throw the race card in there and that's what they're doing in Washington today, that they're concerned about racial profiling.

I can get along great with the Hispanics. In fact, I sure would like to meet them, even the politicians, maybe in the back room or whatever, have a couple of beers and try to explain. But they need to understand that I enforce the laws. I want to listen to them and hear their problems. I want them to tell me what their problems are.

I'm an equal opportunity incarcerator.

It costs more to feed our dogs than our inmates.