Rick Sanchez Highlights Anti-Immigrant Ties Between Neo Nazis And Republicans In Arizona

Yesterday Rick Sanchez interviewed Detective Matt Browning of the Mesa, Arizona Police Department who infiltrated neo-Nazi skinhead groups in Arizona that are riding the most recent wave of anti-immigrant sentiment.

In the clip below, Sanchez alludes to some “heat” Browning caught for his work from people in Arizona. He may be referring to an article in the Arizona Republic from August of last year that criticizes Arizona Republican U.S. Representative Jeff Flake for taking time during the last months of the U.S. presidential campaign and just before the Republican National Convention to write Maricopa County Republican chairman Tom Husband and demand removal of a man called J.T. Ready, “a minor functionary on the very lowest rung of the party’s ladder” because of his ties to the neo-Nazi movement. “What’s up with that?” the article’s author, Gary Nelson asks, despite the fact that, by Nelson’s own admission, The Republic had been reporting on Ready’s racist activity since June of 2007 thanks to information revealed by Detective Matt Browning. Browning described some extreme anti-immigration activists to The Republic as “little more than terrorists.” Husband told Nelson he planned to ignore Flake’s request since Ready’s term was almost up and he wasn’t seeking re-election.

When the paper of record in Arizona and the Maricopa County Republican chairman are willing to brush off neo-Nazi ties as unimportant business and the sheriff of Maricopa County, Joe Arpaio, refuses to turn over illegal aliens to the federal government because he feels it’s too lenient on them, there’s no doubt Arizona is a scary place to be Latino, regardless of your legal status. But, as we know too well, hate crimes against Latinos are not only happening in the Southwest and they’re not only being perpetrated by groups. Detective Browning, who has spent the last 20 years infiltrating such movements, appears on DirectTV’s Investigation Discovery channel this month in an episode of Undercover: Double Life explaining that there are also many “lone wolves” hanging out in their homes “building bombs” and a black President in the White House is only serving to fuel their hatred.

Rick Sanchez Interviews Detective Matt Browning