On Aug. 25, President Donald Trump gave his first presidential pardon to Joe Arpaio. Like most of Trump’s actions since his announcement to run for office, this decision to pardon the former sheriff is controversial. 
Arpaio was a sheriff who served six 4-year terms in Maricopa County, Arizona. On Nov. 8, 2016, Arpaio lost his re-election as sheriff the same day Trump won the presidency.
According to Jacey Fortin from the New York Times, throughout his time in law enforcement, Arpaio was accused of unfairly targeting Latinos, abusing power and misusing funds. He is also accused of failing to investigate many sexually violent crimes and illegally enforcing immigration laws.
On top of these accusations, he was known for upholding harsh prison conditions. With the self-proclaimed title of “America’s Toughest Sheriff,” he banned various items from correctional facilities, including coffee.  
Arpaio is also known for sending a group of individuals to Hawaii for former President Barack Obama’s birth certificate.
According to Richard Pérez-Peña for New York Times, the conviction he received the presidential pardon for, however, lies in his racist prejudice toward Latinos.
Arpaio was convicted in July 2017 for criminal contempt after failing to follow a court order. According to David Morris for Fortune, this order demanded Arpaio to stop illegally detaining Latinos, some of which were undocumented immigrants.
The whole affair of pardoning Arpaio was utterly tasteless. From Trump completely ignoring the process for a presidential pardon and purposefully announcing the pardon in a time of crisis, the day Hurricane Harvey made landfall, to the actual actions which caused Arpaio to be charged.
As a Latina, seeing a man get convicted of crimes like this makes me feel like some sort of justice is actually, finally happening in this country. Like some sort of headway can be gained for people of color who are racially profiled and suffer from it.
After some small justice, not even a month after Arpaio is convicted, our justice system’s verdict is over-turned by the most powerful man in the country.
This is not encouraging. In fact, it’s terrifying.
Arpaio was a man in power of a community with a large Latino population. Arpaio abused his power and illegally detained many Latinos over the years; so many that the court had to intervene and order him to stop.
He did not stop, however, and he faced consequences for it.
It seemed as though a white man, who the system is built for, finally had to take responsibility for his actions after at least 23 years of hurting people of color.
After 23 years of injustice, Arpaio faced his consequences for only a month.
This makes a huge statement, not only to me or to the Latino/Hispanic community, but to other minorities as well. It says, “Hey, you’re not wanted here and we don’t care about your lives. We don’t care if you suffer at the hands of those in power.”
This pardon is not simply a dismissal of racism, it is absolutely excusing racism.
It is saying it is permissible to racially profile people, it is perfectly fine to act out illegally against certain races, and it is perfectly fine to disrupt someone else’s way of life just because of their race.
It is a dismissal of life. It is the people in power telling the minorities they don’t matter. It is infuriating.
Joe Arpaio should not have been pardoned of his crime. It shows Americans the president will excuse harsh and blatant racism. It shows a complete disregard for the judicial system, justice and quality of life for people of color.
It seems like every time this country takes a step forward in equality, there are twice as many steps backward.