Sheriff Dupnik - Dems, in '09, asked him to apologize for 'Inflammatory' Remarks on Immigration

"Whether you are talking about school performance, or dropouts, or gang affiliation, or one-parent homes or poverty, you name the social problem..., that has to do with illegal immigration."

Schools should help "identify the people that are here illegally by the thousands" and ICE will "send them back, kids and parents."
Arizona Sheriff Clarence Dupnik

From CNS News:

Arizona’s Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, who on Saturday suggested radio and television talk shows were somehow responsible for inciting a man... to kill six people and wound 13 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords..., once [in 2009] suggested that local schools should check the immigration status of students and that many of the social problems in his county were attributable to illegal immigration--remarks that some fellow Democrats cited as “inflammatory” while demanding an apology from the sheriff...

"It's wrong for the taxpayers in this country to spend the millions and millions and millions of dollars that we do catering to illegals," Dupnik said... "I don't think you'll find other countries doing that for other citizens."

Dupnik had argued that reducing the number of illegal immigrants would reduce crime and other problems in the area.

“Fewer illegal immigrants, he [Dupnik] said..., “would help reduce crime and other social problems because most of the social problems that plague Pima County originate on the South and Southwest sides, where many illegal immigrants reside.”...

"Whether you are talking about school performance, or dropouts, or gang affiliation, or one-parent homes or poverty, you name the social problem, that's where they are all concentrated," Dupnik told the Daily Star. "That has to do with illegal immigration."...

U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) told the paper that the type of remarks Dupnik had made created “racial tensions.”

"To make a categorical statement that all the crime and the dysfunction in Tucson and Pima County emanates from one part of the community is outrageous and it's stereotypical and based on who lives there, creates racial tensions where they shouldn't be," Grijalva said.

On Saturday, shortly after the shooting attack in Arizona, Mr. Dupnik said that "the anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous. And, unfortunately, Arizona I think has become sort of the capital. We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry.”

Mr. Dupnik also recommended that schools report their findings to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who would identify students "who are here illegally by the thousands and send them back, kids and parents."

Some border county sheriffs want Arizona schools to start asking students whether they're in this country legally.

Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik originated the idea and said millions of dollars in Arizona taxes go to teach English to children who have no legal right to be here. He also said there's a link involving illegal immigration, social problems and gangs.

Only thing is, a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision appears to make it illegal for school officials to ask. In a 5-4 decision, the justices overturned a Texas law that authorized school districts to refuse to enroll anyone who couldn't prove legal residence.

But Dupnik said it may be time for Arizona to have a test case to put the issue back before the high court — to see if the current justices agree...

Dupnik [said that schools should] report their findings to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"They would identify the people that are here illegally by the thousands and send them back, kids and parents," he said.