U.S. Rep. RaÃēl Grijalva says a pardon by President Donald Trump of former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio would send a clear signal to the nation that Trump condones the racial profiling that led to the sheriff's recent conviction.
The Arizona Democrat also said Tuesday that a pardon would hurt those "victimized and selectively persecuted" after being stopped during the sheriff's anti-immigration patrols.
U.S. Rep. RaÃēl Grijalva
Arpaio was convicted in July of misdemeanor contempt of court for disobeying a judge's order to stop the patrols. The conviction stems from a civil rights case in which Arpaio's deputies were found to have racially profiled Latinos.
Trump told a Fox News interviewer last week that he was considering a pardon for Arpaio, who was voted out of office last year.
Grijalva made the comments after a news conference where organizers of protests targeting Trump at a planned Phoenix rally outlined reasons for their efforts.
Organizers of the protests say they're gathering to stand up against what they call "the politics of hate."
Tucson vice mayor Regina Romero told reporters at a news conference organized by the Mi Famila Vota organization that the groups "refuse to idly stand by while Trump destroys everything America stands for."
Romero says Arizona Latinos are gathering to show their opposition to what she called "Trump's racism, assaults on civil rights, horrific border wall and attacks on public lands, our environment and working families."
Trump's Tuesday evening campaign-style rally in reliably-Republican Arizona comes as he tries to reinvigorate his presidency after months of controversy. The problems were topped by comments he made last week about both sides having blame for violence at a white supremacist rally in Virginia.
