Joe Arpaio and Janet Napolitano

William Finnegan has, in his usual style, a cutting, perceptive profile (registration required for full text) of Maricopa County, Az. sheriff Joe Arpaio in this week's New Yorker. But in an interesting twist, the piece may pull some unwanted attention to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who forged a cross-party alliance with Arpaio as governor (she is a Democrat, he a Republican), and who is now overseeing a review of the 287(g) program that gives Arpaio's department a lot of training that it applies in paramilitary style raids aimed at cracking down on illegal immigrants. Arpaio is hugely popular, both for his tough tactics as sheriff, and for his adoption--he has not always taken this stance--of a strongly anti-illegal immigrant stance. But some law enforcement officers in Arizona say his approach has made it harder for their agencies to work to prevent crime in immigrant communities because it's difficult for them to get immigrants to trust the police, undermining their ultimate goal of law and order.